Abstract
Water extract of Cordyceps militaris grown upon Protuetja dreujtarsis (CMPD) was examined for the genetic toxicity-bacterial mutagenicity, chromosome aberration, and micronucleus formation. For mutagenicity assay, bacterial reversion test with Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA100, TA1535, TA 1537, and E. coli WP2uvrA were performed. The extract at the concentrations of $50{\sim}5,000{\mu}g/plate$ did not induce mutagenicity at all. Chromosome aberration test was performed by using Chinese lung (CHL) cells. There was no significant chromosome aberration in CHL cells with S-9 mixture at the concentrations of $312.5{\sim}1,250{\mu}g/ml$ of the extract and without S-9 mixture at the concentrations of $1.2{\sim}19.5{\mu}g/ml$ of the extract. For micronucleus test, ICR mice were treated with the extract at the dose of 0.5, 1, and 2g/Kg. The frequencies of the micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPCE) in bone marrow preparations of the extract-treated group were not increased compared to the untreated control group. Taken together, our results show that water extract of CMPD did not induce any harmful genotoxicity.
