Abstract
In the present study, 101 sphingolipids in wild Cordyceps and its five mycelia were quantitatively profiled by using a fully validated UHPLC-MS method. The results revealed that a general rank order for the abundance of different classes of sphingolipids in wild Cordyceps and its mycelia is sphingoid bases/ceramides > phosphosphingolipids > glycosphingolipids. However, remarkable sphingolipid differences between wild Cordyceps and its mycelia were observed. One is that sphingoid base is the dominant sphingolipid in wild Cordyceps, whereas ceramide is the major sphingolipid in mycelia. Another difference is that the abundance of sphingomyelins in wild Cordyceps is almost 10-folds higher than those in most mycelia. The third one is that mycelia contain more inositol phosphorylceramides and glycosphingolipids than wild Cordyceps. Multivariate analysis was further employed to visualize the difference among wild Cordyceps and different mycelia, leading to the identification of respective sphingolipids as potential chemical markers for the differentiation of wild Cordyceps and its related mycelia. This study represents the first report on the quantitative profiling of sphingolipids in wild Cordyceps and its related mycelia, which provided comprehensive chemical evidence for the quality control and rational utilization of wild Cordyceps and its mycelia.
Highlights
Cordyceps is a composite consisting of the stroma of the fungus Cordyceps sinensis [Berk.] Sacc. and the dead caterpillar of Hepialus armoricanus whose larva is the primary host of the fungus
SPLs are a complex family of compounds that share a common structural feature, a sphingoid base backbone which is biosynthesized from serine and a long-chain fatty acyl-CoA, and converted into ceramides, phosphosphingolipids, glycosphingolipids and other species[12]
We carried out a quantitative profiling of the SPLs of wild Cordyceps and its five mycelia by using an improved sphingolipidomic approach that has been established in our lab[20]
Summary
In 1994, myriocin, a natural sphingolipid (SPL), was isolated from the culture broth of Isaria sinclairii (the imperfect stage of Cordyceps sinclairii) as a potent immunosuppressive constituent[11]. Starting from myriocin, FTY720 was synthesized and developed into a drug (Fingolimod) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and was studied in phase III clinical trial of organ transplantation. This implies that SPLs might be active constituents of wild Cordyceps and its mycelia. Evidence showed that sphingomyelin has effects on the post-initiation development of preneoplastic lesions in the rat colon[19] These evidence strongly suggested that natural SPLs are pharmacologically active constituents of natural medicines. We carried out a quantitative profiling of the SPLs of wild Cordyceps and its five mycelia by using an improved sphingolipidomic approach that has been established in our lab[20]
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