Universities of Giessen and Marburg Lung Center (UGMLC), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), 35392 Giessen, Germany.
Veterinary Science (Theriogenology), Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU), Center for Biotechnology, 44209 Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal.
Medicina (Kaunas). 2020 Mar 16;56(3):131. doi: 10.3390/medicina56030131.
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by the vasoconstriction and abnormally proliferative vascular cells. The available allopathic treatment options for PH are still not able to cure the disease. Alternative medicine is becoming popular and drawing the attention of the general public and scientific communities. The entomogenous fungus () and its biologically active ingredient cordycepin may represent the therapeutic option for this incurable disease, owing to their anti-inflammatory, vasodilatory and anti-oxidative effects. In this study, we investigated whether extract and cordycepin possess anti-proliferative and vasorelaxant properties in the context of PH, using 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine assay and isolated mice lungs, respectively. Our results revealed that extract and its bioactive compound cordycepin significantly attenuated the proliferation of human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells derived from donor and PH subjects. In isolated murine lungs, only extract, but not cordycepin, resulted in vasodilatation, indicating the probable existence of other bioactive metabolites present in that may be responsible for this outcome. Future comprehensive in vivo and in vitro research is crucially needed to discover the profound mechanistic insights with regard to this promising therapeutic potency of extract and to provide further evidence as to whether it can be used as a strategy for the treatment of PH.
肺动脉高压（PH）的特征是血管收缩和异常增殖的血管细胞。目前用于治疗 PH 的替代药物选择仍然无法治愈这种疾病。替代医学越来越受欢迎，引起了公众和科学界的关注。昆虫真菌（）及其生物活性成分虫草素可能代表了治疗这种不治之症的选择，因为它们具有抗炎、血管扩张和抗氧化作用。 在这项研究中，我们分别使用 5-溴-2'-脱氧尿苷测定法和分离的小鼠肺，研究了 提取物及其生物活性化合物虫草素是否具有抗增殖和血管舒张特性。 我们的结果表明， 提取物及其生物活性化合物虫草素可显著抑制供体和 PH 患者来源的人肺动脉平滑肌细胞的增殖。在分离的小鼠肺中，只有 提取物，而不是虫草素，导致血管舒张，表明 中可能存在其他生物活性代谢物，这可能是导致这种结果的原因。 未来需要进行全面的体内和体外研究，以发现这种有希望的 提取物治疗潜力的深刻机制见解，并提供更多证据，说明它是否可用于治疗 PH。
