Abstract
Cordycepin has been widely used in oriental countries to maintain health and improve physical performance. Compound nerve action potential (CNAP), which is critical in signal conduction in the peripheral nervous system, is necessary to regulate physical performance, including motor system physiological and pathological processes. Therefore, regulatory effects of cordycepin on CNAP conduction should be elucidated. In this study, the conduction ability of CNAP in isolated frog sciatic nerves was investigated. Results revealed that cordycepin significantly decreased CNAP amplitude and conductive velocity in a reversible and concentration-dependent manner. At 50 mg/L cordycepin, CNAP amplitude and conductive velocity decreased by 62.18 ± 8.06% and 57.34% ± 6.14% compared with the control amplitude and conductive velocity, respectively. However, the depressive action of cordycepin on amplitude and conductive velocity was not observed in Ca2+-free medium or in the presence of Ca2+ channel blockers (CdCl2/LaCl3). Pretreatment with L-type Ca2+ channel antagonist (nifedipine/deltiazem) also blocked cordycepin-induced responses; by contrast, T-type and P-type Ca2+ channel antagonists (Ni2+) failed to block such responses. Therefore, cordycepin decreased the conduction ability of CNAP in isolated frog sciatic nerves via L-type Ca2+ channel-dependent mechanism.
Highlights
Cordyceps militaris is a rare but renowned caterpillar fungus used as traditional Chinese medicine
The mean of individual Compound nerve action potential (CNAP) amplitudes recorded under stable conditions at the start of the experiment was considered as baseline, and the amplitudes obtained after cordycepin was applied were expressed as percentage of the baseline to characterize the effects of cordycepin on nerve conduction ability
Time (a) increased correspondingly; conductive velocity at 50 mg/L was not significantly different from that at 100 and 200 mg/L cordycepin (P > 0.05; Figure 2(b)). These results revealed that cordycepin may elicit a regulatory effect on signal conduction in Peripheral nervous system (PNS) by decreasing CNAP conduction ability; such effects of cordycepin are reversible
Summary
Cordyceps militaris is a rare but renowned caterpillar fungus used as traditional Chinese medicine This fungus has been widely utilized in oriental countries as tonic to prevent early aging, improve physical performance, and increase lifespan [1,2,3]. Cordycepin is an important mediator in the modulation of brain pathological and physiological processes. Compound nerve action potential (CNAP), the basic component of nerve activity, is necessary to regulate physical performances, including motor system physiological and pathological processes; CNAP is implicated in signal conduction in PNS [14,15,16,17]. This study was conducted to investigate the regulatory effect of cordycepin on CNAP conduction ability of sciatic nerve in vitro and the possible mechanisms of cordycepin action
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