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Morchella fluvialis, a morel mushroom, is one of the most famous edible mushrooms all over the world. Interest in this mushroom is steadily increasing due to its organoleptic properties and nutritional value. The methanolic extract of M. fluvialis showed α-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities in an assay system. Therefore, the purification and characterisation of bioactive metabolites and evaluation of biological activity were conducted. Fractionation of the M. fluvialis extract resulted in the isolation of nine compounds, namely, three fatty acids, (9Z,12Z)-octadecadienoic acid (linoleic acid, 1), (9Z,12Z)-3-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (2) and (6Z,9Z)-13-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (3); four sterols, stellasterol (4), ergosterol peroxide (5), ergosterol (6) and brassicasterol (7); one sugar alcohol, arabitol (8); and nicotinamide (9). Among them, compounds 2–3 and 7 were first reported from Morchella. In addition, compound 1 exhibited potent α-glucosidase inhibition, with an IC50 value of 14.8 μM. The content of compound 1, the major compound, was 1.2 mg · g–1 extract, as quantitated by HPLC analysis, which was lower than the IC50 value of compound 1. Therefore, M. fluvialis can benefit from diabetes and related diseases through the synergistic effect of linoleic acid (1) and other ingredients.

Cordycepin, also known as 3′-deoxyadenosine, is a major active ingredient of Cordyceps militaris with diverse pharmacological effects. Due to its limited supply, many attempts have been conducted to enhance the cordycepin content. As part of this study, eight medicinal plants were supplemented with cultivation substrates of Cordyceps to increase the cordycepin content. Cordyceps cultivated on brown rice supplemented with Mori Folium, Curcumae Rhizoma, Saururi Herba, and Angelicae Gigantis Radix exhibited increased cordycepin content compared to a brown rice control. Among them, the addition of 25% Mori Folium increased the cordycepin content up to 4 times. Adenosine deaminase (ADA) modulates the deamination of adenosine and deoxyadenosine, and the inhibitors have therapeutic potential with anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory properties. As ADA is also known to be involved in converting cordycepin to 3′-deoxyinosine, the inhibitory activity of medicinal plants on ADA was measured by spectrophotometric analysis using cordycepin as a substrate. As expected, Mori Folium, Curcumae Rhizoma, Saururi Herba, and Angelicae Gigas Radix strongly inhibited ADA activity. Molecular docking analysis also showed the correlation between ADA and the major components of these medicinal plants. Conclusively, our research suggests a new strategy of using medicinal plants to enhance cordycepin production in C. militaris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]