The objective of our study was to compare the chemical composition of Cordyceps sinensis (C. sinensis) and Cordyceps militaris (C. militaris) cultivated with tussah pupa by using metabonomics technology in order to clarify the similarity and difference of the two medicinal materials from the whole metabolite level. The results showed that there were 25 different metabolites among the 69 metabolites that were highly expressed in C. militaris cultivated with tussah pupa compared with C. sinensis in both positive and negative ion modes. Analysis results of partial differential metabolites pathways indicated that 16 differential metabolites were involved in multiple pathways, such as histidine metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, tyrosine metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, pyruvate metabolism, etc. Therefore, the composition of C. militaris cultivated with tussah pupa had significant advantage comparing with C. sinensis, which demonstrated that high-priced C. sinensis could be substituted with C. militaris cultivated with tussah pupa to some extent. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: This study comprehensively compared the chemical composition of Cordyceps sinensis (C. sinensis) and Cordyceps militaris (C. militaris) cultivated with tussah pupa by using metabonomics technology in order to clarify the similarity and difference of the two medicinal materials from the whole metabolite level. The experimental results provide a theoretical basis and scientific support for whether C. sinensis can be substituted with C. militaris cultivated with tussah pupa in clinical practice.
Keywords: C. militaris; C. sinensis; liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; metabonomics; principal component analysis.
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