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The Effect of Fermentation Conditions on the Structure and Anti-tumor Activity of Polysaccharides from Cordyceps gunnii

Summary

This research explored how different fermentation conditions affect the production of beneficial compounds from the medicinal mushroom Cordyceps gunnii. The scientists found optimal growing conditions that produced polysaccharides with stronger anti-cancer properties. This has important implications for developing more effective natural medicines from fungi. Impacts on everyday life: – Provides a way to produce natural anti-cancer compounds more efficiently – Helps make medicinal mushroom products more accessible and affordable – Advances our understanding of how to optimize natural medicine production – Demonstrates potential for developing new cancer treatments from natural sources – Shows how fermentation conditions can be controlled to enhance medicinal properties

Background

Cordyceps is a valued Chinese medicinal mushroom known for various biological and pharmacological functions including anti-tumor, antioxidant, antiaging, anti-inflammatory, and immunity-improving qualities. Polysaccharides are major bioactive constituents contributing to health maintenance and anti-cancer activity. Since wild Cordyceps gunnii fruiting bodies are rare and expensive, liquid submerged fermentation of mycelium is an effective way to obtain large quantities of polysaccharides.

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the effect of fermentation conditions on the structure and anti-tumor activity of intracellular polysaccharides (IPS) of Cordyceps gunnii in submerged fermentation. The goal was to determine optimal environmental and nutritional conditions for producing polysaccharides with enhanced anti-tumor properties.

Results

The optimal fermentation conditions were determined to be: pH 6, temperature 25°C, rotation speed 150 rpm, 4% glucose, and 1.0% peptone. Under these optimized conditions, the polysaccharides showed higher molecular weight and enhanced anti-tumor activity with up to 80% inhibition of S180 tumor cells. Structural analysis revealed that polysaccharides from optimized conditions (CPS-YH) had both α-d and β-d configurations while those from basal conditions (CPS-JC) only had α-d configuration.

Conclusion

Different fermentation conditions significantly affected both the structure and anti-tumor activities of C. gunnii polysaccharides. Higher molecular weight polysaccharides exhibited stronger anti-tumor activity. The optimized conditions produced polysaccharides with enhanced anti-tumor properties, providing insights for efficient production of bioactive polysaccharides through submerged fermentation of Cordyceps.
  • Published in:RSC Advances,
  • Study Type:Laboratory Research,
  • Source: 10.1039/c9ra01202h
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