In vitro evaluation of Cordyceps militaris as a potential radioprotective agent

  • Authors:
    • Min-Ho Jeong
    • You-Soo Park
    • Dong-Hyeok Jeong
    • Chang-Geun Lee
    • Joong-Sun Kim
    • Su-Jung Oh
    • Soo-Kyung Jeong
    • Kwangmo Yang
    • Wol-Soon Jo
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: August 18, 2014     https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2014.1901
  • Pages: 1349-1357
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Abstract

Radiation is an important component of therapy for a wide range of malignant conditions. However, it triggers DNA damage and cell death in normal cells and results in adverse side-effects. Cordyceps militaris (C. militaris), a traditional medicinal mushroom, produces the bioactive compound, cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine) and has multiple pharmacological activities, such as antitumor, antimetastatic, antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether CM-AE, an extract obtained from C. militaris exerts protective effects against radiation-induced DNA damage. The protective effects of CM-AE were compared with those of cordycepin. CM-AE effectively increased free radical scavenging activity and decreased radiation-induced plasmid DNA strand breaks in in vitro assays. CM-AE significantly inhibited the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cellular DNA damage in 2 Gy irradiated Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells. Moreover, treatment with CM-AE induced similar levels of phosphorylated H2AX in the cells, which reflects the initial DNA double-strand breaks in the irradiated cells compared with the non-irradiated CHO-K1 cells. However, cordycepin did not show free radical scavenging activity and did not protect against radiation-induced plasmid DNA or cellular DNA damage. These results suggest that the free radical scavenging activity of CM-AE contributes towards its DNA radioprotective effects and that the protective effects of CM-AE are much more potent to those of cordycepin. The data presented in this study may provide useful information for the screening of potent radioprotective materials.
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November-2014
Volume 34 Issue 5

Print ISSN: 1107-3756
Online ISSN:1791-244X

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Spandidos Publications style
Jeong M, Park Y, Jeong D, Lee C, Kim J, Oh S, Jeong S, Yang K and Jo W: In vitro evaluation of Cordyceps militaris as a potential radioprotective agent. Int J Mol Med 34: 1349-1357, 2014
APA
Jeong, M., Park, Y., Jeong, D., Lee, C., Kim, J., Oh, S. ... Jo, W. (2014). In vitro evaluation of Cordyceps militaris as a potential radioprotective agent. International Journal of Molecular Medicine, 34, 1349-1357. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2014.1901
MLA
Jeong, M., Park, Y., Jeong, D., Lee, C., Kim, J., Oh, S., Jeong, S., Yang, K., Jo, W."In vitro evaluation of Cordyceps militaris as a potential radioprotective agent". International Journal of Molecular Medicine 34.5 (2014): 1349-1357.
Chicago
Jeong, M., Park, Y., Jeong, D., Lee, C., Kim, J., Oh, S., Jeong, S., Yang, K., Jo, W."In vitro evaluation of Cordyceps militaris as a potential radioprotective agent". International Journal of Molecular Medicine 34, no. 5 (2014): 1349-1357. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2014.1901