中華冬蟲夏草〈中華蟲草〉是一種中國傳統滋補的昂貴中草藥材，因此市面上出現許多偽品，故人們開始尋找與中華蟲草具有相同活性的替代品。目前市面上常用北冬蟲夏草〈北蟲草〉作為中華蟲草的替代品。而中華蟲草的主要成分及相關的藥理活性已被許多科學家證實，但是有關北蟲草的研究卻不多，所以本研究之目的在評估人工培養的北蟲草子實體對mitomycin C 所誘導的基因毒性是否具有保護的作用。微核試驗是評估基因毒性的方法，以計數1000 個網狀細胞中出現多少具有微核的網狀細胞來加以評估，而mitomycin C〈MMC〉是一種具有基因毒性的抗腫瘤藥物。在此實驗中，我們先分別以胃管餵食ICR 小鼠125、250、500 或1000mg/kg 的人工培養北蟲草子實體懸浮液連續一週後，在第七天給予腹腔注射0.5 或1mg/kg 的MMC 以誘導基因毒性，並在腹腔注射MMC 後的第24、48及第72 小時分別進行眼窩週邊血採樣來計數微核的數量。本研究結果發現預先餵食1000mg/kg 人工培養北蟲草子實體的懸浮液連續十天後，對MMC 在第24 小時所誘導的基因毒性具有保護作用；而500mg/kg 人工培養北蟲草子實體的懸浮液則在MMC 注射後的第72 小時才有明顯減少的趨勢。綜合以上結果，本研究認為人工培養的北冬蟲夏草子實體對MMC 所誘導的基因毒性具有保護的作用。 Cordyceps sinensis (CS) is an expensive tonic Chinese herbal medicine. Therefore, people look for a similar pharmacological effects substitute of CS when many counterfeits and mimics of CS always found in markets, while Cordyceps militaris (CM) is a popularly using and cheaper natural of CS. The purpose of this study was evaluated the protective effect of cultured fruiting body of CM in mitomycin C-induced genotoxicity. The micronucleus test is an evaluated genotoxicity method by counting how many reticulocytes contained micronuclei (MN) in 1000 reticulocytes. And mitomycin C is a famous anti-tumor cytotoxic drug. In this study, we had designed to pre-treat ICR mice with 125, 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg cultured fruiting body of CM (o.p.) for seven days, then given 0.5 mg/kg or 1 mg/kg MMC by intraperitoneal (i.p.) at the 7th day, then collected orbital peripheral blood of mice to count the number of MN after mitomycin C treatment at 24, 48 and 72 hours. We found that cultured fruiting body of CM decreased the frequency of MN after mitomycin C treatment at 24 hours (1000 mg/kg CM) and 72 hours (500, 1000 mg/kg) (p<0.05). In this study, our results suggest that cultured fruiting body of CM may contribute to the prevention of mitomycin C-induced genotoxicity.
