Caterpillar Fungus

Ophiocordyceps sinensis/Cordyceps sinensis – Raupenpilz – Tōchūkasō – Dōngchóngxiàcǎo - Cordyceps militaris – Clavaria militaris – Scarlet Caterpillarclub – Sanagitake – Chóngcǎo huā

Tonic and “Essence (Ethereal) Medicine” in Tibetan Materia Medica

Although O. sinensis and C. militaris are two different species, they belong to the same Cordyceps genus and share most of the active ingredients and therapeutic effects.

 

Interesting compounds

  • Cordycepin – Adenosine derivative: antitumor (1-4), antibacterial (5), antiviral (4,6), anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, antidepressant, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective (4), antioxidant (7), and stimulating steroid production (8).

  • Ophiocordin: antibiotic and fungicidal (6).

  • Adenosine: lowers blood pressure and heart rate through vasodilation, improves coronary circulation (6), antioxidant (7), immunomodulatory (8), antiarrhythmic effect (9).

  • Cordyol C: inhibits HSV-1 replication and cancer cell growth (6).

  • Polysaccharides - D-glucans and galactosaminoglycans make up to 8% of total weight: antitumor, antioxidant, antidiabetic activity, and immune stimulation (6).

    • D-mannitol (formerly called cordycepic acid) – not exclusive to the Cordyceps fungus but possesses antimetastatic (10), hepatoprotective, antihyperlipidemic, and renoprotective properties (8,11).

    • Cordlan – immunomodulatory, anticancer polysaccharide from C. militaris (3).

  • Ergosterol and its derivatives (7,11) – promote bone and cartilage formation.

  • Cordyceamides A and B – Aurantiamides: analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects (8).

  • Cordymin – an antifungal and neuroprotective peptide from C. militaris (8,12).

  • Fatty acids – 28 saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and their derivatives (10): antihyperlipidemic and cardioprotective (11).

  • Melanin: antioxidant (8).

  • Nutritional content: moisture 10.6-12.78%, protein 25%, fat 1.7%, carbohydrates 34.04-36.26%, polysaccharides 5.4-6.39%, fiber 20.8-21.1%, ash 4.84-5.23% (13), various vitamins (E, K, B1, B2, B12) (8,10), micro- and macro-elements (K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, Pi, Se, Al, Si, Ni, Sr, Ti, Cr, Ga, V, Zr) (10).

Areas of Action and Applications

  • Vitalizing tonic (1,2,5,6,14).

    • Strengthens physical endurance and performance.

      • O. sinensis increases energy and oxygen uptake in elderly patients during exercise (8,10,15). It protects endurance athletes from overtraining syndrome, mainly due to its strong antioxidant activity (15,16). It increases cellular ATP concentration at the molecular level (10).

      • In combination with Rhodiola rosea, sedentary young adults showed increased aerobic endurance, improved blood sugar control, and positive changes in body composition (body weight, BMI, fat mass in upper extremities, muscle mass in lower extremities, trunk fat mass) (17). In contrast, the same supplement combination and physical exercise did not show differences in overall training results in active young adults (18). However, the combination improved endurance performance during altitude training and extended time to exhaustion runs in elite athletes at sea level (19).

    • Anti-aging – older individuals showed significant improvements in fatigue, cold intolerance, dizziness, frequent nocturia, tinnitus, hyposexuality, and amnesia (10).

    • Chronic fatigue syndrome (8).

    • Sexual function and fertility.

      • It improves sperm characteristics and sex hormone levels – C. militaris administration in animals increases sperm quality and quantity (7, 20), motility (20), testosterone (7, 20), and estradiol-17 serum concentrations (20). Patients who consumed Cordyceps showed longer sperm survival, higher sperm count, and fewer malformed sperm (9).

      • Sexual dysfunction and impotence – male patients report improvements in sexual dysfunction and long-term reversal of impotence, frigidity, and sexual discomfort (7,9).

      • Hypolibido – a strong aphrodisiac, enhances libido in male and female patients (9).

      • Improvement of leukorrhea in female patients (9).

    • Promotes convalescence.

    • Antidepressant effect (5,6,8) and improves sleep quality (5).

  • Kidney Diseases

    • Chronic kidney disease (CKD) (1,2,14) – C. militaris consumption is linked to a lower incidence of kidney failure, improved kidney, immune, and antioxidant function, reduced CKD severity, blood pressure, proteinuria, BUN, and creatinine in CKD patients (10,21).

    • Antibiotic-induced nephrotoxicity (1,2) – nearly 90% of patients treated with Cordyceps fully recovered after 6 days of treatment (10).

    • Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) (14) – Cordyceps reduces CIN occurrence after coronary angiography in angina pectoris and diabetic patients (22,23).

    • Diabetic nephropathy (14).

    • Kidney transplantation – allows a lower cyclosporine dose, causes fewer side effects, does not increase the risk of acute rejection, and does not cause toxicity (7,11).

  • Hepatoprotective (24).

    • Liver fibrosis – O. sinensis and C. militaris inhibit liver fibrosis and help restore liver function in animal models (1,2,7,11).

    • Alcoholic fatty liver disease – O. sinensis significantly reduces abnormal liver enzyme levels in patients with hepatic steatosis (1,2).

    • Chronic hepatitis A, B, and C (2,6,11) – clinical studies report therapeutic benefits in children with asymptomatic hepatitis, conversion of the disease to a non-infectious form, improvement in symptoms in adult patients with chronic hepatitis B and post-hepatitis cirrhosis (7). A group of patients receiving Cordyceps combined with other medicinal mushrooms showed better results than treatment with Lamivudine alone (11).

  • Respiratory Diseases and Allergies (1,2,14).

    • Asthma – bronchodilatory and asthma-preventive effects in animal studies (25).

    • COPD – mice treated with Cordyceps preparations survived longer in low-oxygen environments (10).

    • Bronchitis – benefits from O. sinensis and C. militaris (25).

  • Infectious Diseases

    • Viral infections.

      • Chronic viral infections associated with chronic fatigue syndrome (1,2,6).

      • HIV (1,2,6,10) – cordycepin inhibits the HIV replication cycle by blocking viral reverse transcriptase (4,6).

      • Influenza A virus – clinical studies reported positive therapeutic effects (25), and animal studies showed strong antiviral activity of C. militaris against the H1N1 virus (9).

    • Bacterial infections – reduces the growth and spread of group A Streptococci and increases the survival rate of mice (11).

  • Complementary Cancer Treatment (1,5,11,14).

    • Improves quality of life and extends survival time (14).

    • Reduces tumor size – in lung cancer and patients with multiple cancers (10).

    • Improves cancer-related symptoms – in patients with multiple cancers (10).

    • Reduces chemotherapy-induced side effects – compared to other anti-side effect drugs, Cordyceps completely outperformed, reducing vomiting, hair loss, improving appetite, and increasing sleep duration (26).

    • Animal studies report tumor size reduction, extended survival time, prevention of metastasis, and improved immune recovery after chemotherapy in melanoma, lung, and liver cancer (7,10). O. sinensis protected bone marrow and the gut from damage in an animal model treated with radiotherapy (15). O. sinensis shows anticancer effects in cervical, uterine, and breast cancers (27-29). C. militaris shows anticancer effects in colorectal and breast cancer (27,28).

    • Laboratory studies found strong anticancer activity of cordycepin against breast cancer cells (7,27,28). O. sinensis against colon, endometrial (27), non-small cell lung cancer (15), and hepatoma cells (3). C. militaris against colon, lung (27), ovarian (30), breast, bladder, hepatoma (3), and leukemia cells (3,7).

  • Cardiovascular Diseases and Risk Factors

    • Diabetes mellitus II – inhibits α-glucosidase in vitro (31), shows antidiabetic activity in vivo, improves blood sugar profile in diabetic patients, and helps prevent complications such as diabetic nephropathy (1,2,6,7,10,14,24).

    • Dyslipidemia (2,6,14) – lowers blood cholesterol levels and aortic plaque deposition in animal models (7,11,24). C. militaris improves the lipid profile in patients with chronic renal insufficiency (21).

    • Chronic heart failure – long-term Cordyceps supplementation combined with conventional therapy increases overall quality of life – general physical condition, mental health, sexual drive, circulation in major organs, and heart function (10,15).

    • Antithrombotic effect (2,6).

    • Arrhythmias – shows improvements in patients with ventricular arrhythmias (7).

    • Alcoholism – clinical study reports reduced craving in alcoholic patients 48 hours after starting treatment (10).

    • Weight loss – body weight gain was significantly lower in old rats treated with cordycepin than in old control rats (24).

    • An Australian clinical study with patients with metabolic syndrome or diabetes mellitus II found no positive changes in cardiovascular risk factors after single or combination therapy of O. sinensis and G. lucidum (32).

  • Immunomodulatory Effects

    • Possible bidirectional immunomodulatory effect – immune-stimulating in cancer and immunosuppressive in organ transplants (10).

    • O. sinensis enhances general immunity, increases the number of immune cells in healthy adults (15,33).

    • Autoimmune diseases.

      • Graves' disease (14).

      • Hashimoto's thyroiditis (14).

      • Lupus nephritis – in combination with artemisinin, it protects the kidneys and prevents recurrence of nephritis in lupus patients (7).

  • Antioxidant Effects – cordycepin increases the activity of antioxidant enzymes in rats and humans to the level of young rats and young people (7,24). Cordycepin protects the liver, kidneys, heart, and lungs of old rats from oxidative stress (24).

  • Skin Health – cordycepin shows effects on photoaging and hyperpigmentation in vitro (34).

  • Osteoporosis – high doses of O. sinensis prevent osteoporosis in animal studies (35).

  • Traditional Use in TCM (7,10).

    • Replenishes and tonifies Jing (Yin and Yang), restores deep energy lost due to excessive stress and endurance loss associated with a lack of vital kidney and lung energy.

    • Enhances and balances metabolism, homeostasis, the entire hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, and can be safely used in almost all endocrine disorders.

    • Strengthens the body and mind, calms the nervous system.

    • Strengthens the lungs, helps with respiratory issues like coughing, wheezing, shallow breathing, flu, COPD, asthma.

    • Kidney and liver diseases, cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia.

    • Fibromyalgia.

    • Fatigue, exhaustion following prolonged illness.

    • Senile general ailments and pains.

    • Immune disorders, general resistance to infections, Lyme disease.

    • Adjuvant cancer treatment.

    • Hyposexuality, impotence, aphrodisiac in men and women.

Side Effects

  • Pregnancy and breastfeeding – limited published data on Cordyceps use in pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as very young children, but since this mushroom has a potentially stimulating effect on the reproductive system, precautions should be taken for these patients (7,10).

  • No harmful drug interactions have been reported in the scientific literature, but caution is recommended in some cases (10).

    • Diabetes – observations suggest changes in blood sugar metabolism in patients consuming Cordyceps often lead to reduced intake of oral or injected antidiabetic medications.

    • HIV – naturally occurring antiretroviral compounds like 2'3'-dideoxyadenosine (found in C. sinensis and also sold under the names Videx and Didanosine as a main treatment for HIV) and 3'-deoxyadenosine, which has the same or similar effect, could increase efficacy or reduce dosage in patients receiving therapy with other antiretroviral drugs.

  • Very few toxic side effects have been reported from Cordyceps use, although patients may experience dry mouth, nausea, and diarrhea. One patient reported a systemic allergic reaction (10).

References

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