A Comparison of Primary Active Components Between Cultured Cordyceps militaris and Cordyceps sinensis

Cordyceps militaris is a rare traditional Chinese medicinal material.In order to provide basic information for culturing Cordyceps militaris to have similar active components with Cordyceps sinensis,the contents and compositions of amino acids,polysaccharides and cordycepin etc in cultured C.militaris and its mycelia and sporophores and in C.sinensis and its mycelia were determined.The results showed that the amino acid compositions were identical in both C.militaris and C.sinensis.However,the contents of Lys and Tyr in C.militaris were evidently higher than in C.sinensis,and the His content was reduced remarkably.Both C.militaris and C.sinensis had similar polysaccharide compositions.However,a specific ingredient of polysaccharides was detected in C.sinensis.Its molecular weight was about 100 kD,and accounted for 1.38% of the total polysaccarides.The content of cordycepin in C.militaris was remarkably higher than that in C.sinensis.Whether the difference of these active components are responsible for their pharmacological activities remains for further studies.