earticle

영어

A growing amount of research in biology and medicine has been devoted to reactive oxygen species (ROS). There now is considerable evidence that ROS induce oxidative damage in biomolecules. This damage causes atherosclerosis, aging, cancer, and several other diseases. Fortunately, dietary foods contain a wide variety of ROS-scavenging antioxidants, for example, flavonoids and antioxidative vitamins such as ascorbic acid and R-tocopherol. Epidemiological studies have shown that higher intake of fresh vegetables, fruits, tea, and wine is associated with reduced risk of heart disease. This is the reason for the current strong interest in natural antioxidants and their roles in human health and nutrition. Medicinal mushrooms have been used in China for two thousand years to improve health and achieve longevity. Recently, they have received more and more attention in many studies which have used modern scientific methods to analyze their bioactive components. Paecilomyces javanicus, an entomopathogenic fungus belonging to the class Ascomycetes, is known as one of the Chinese medicinal mushrooms. Some Cordyceps species have long been used for medicinal purposes in China, Japan and Korea and other oriental countries because of their various biological and pharmacological activities which were generally attributed to the presence of the important bioactive ingredients such as adenosine, cordycepin and exopolysaccharides. Adenosine has a number of actions that merit it as a possible cardio-protective and therapeutic agent for chronic heart failure; cordycepin (3′-deoxyadenosine) is a nucleoside analogue which exhibits a broad spectrum of biological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor, antileukemia, antiviral activities and an immunoregulative effect; polysaccharides account for the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, antimetastatic, immunomodulatory, hypoglycaemic, steroidogenic and hypolipidaemic effects. However, the antioxidant abilities of P. javanicus in submerged culture have not yet been studied. The objectives of this study were to investigate the antioxidant activity and the free radical scavenging activity of P. javanicus in submerged culture.