Due to substantial morbidity and high complications, diabetes mellitus is considered as the third “killer” in the world. A search for alternative antidiabetic drugs from herbs or fungi is highly demanded. Our present study aims to investigate the antidiabetic activities of Cordyceps militaris on diet-streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus in rats. Diabetic rats were orally administered with water extract or alcohol extract at 0.05 g/kg and 2 g/kg for 3 weeks, and then, the factors levels related to blood glucose, lipid, free radicals, and even nephropathy were determined. Pathological alterations on liver and kidney were examined. Data showed that, similar to metformin, Cordyceps militaris extracts displayed a significant reduction in blood glucose levels by promoting glucose metabolism and strongly suppressed total cholesterol and triglycerides concentration in serum. Cordyceps militaris extracts exhibit antioxidative effects indicated by normalized superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase levels. The inhibitory effects on blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, uric acid, and protein revealed the protection of Cordyceps militaris extracts against diabetic nephropathy, which was confirmed by pathological morphology reversion. Collectively, Cordyceps militaris extract, a safe pharmaceutical agent, presents excellent antidiabetic and antinephropathic activities and thus has great potential as a new source for diabetes treatment.

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the most commonly used orthopedic implant material. In recent years, the emergence of cationic doped hydroxyapatite has revealed more possibilities for the biological application of HA. Conventional...

It is important for future clinical applications to design and synthesize multipurpose scaffolding materials for bone tissue engineering with high osteogenic induction and MRI capability. In the present study, we synthesized Ce/Gd@HA by co-doping Ce3+ and Gd3+ into hydroxyapatite (HA) using a hydrothermal synthesis method, and then Ce/Gd@HA composites were synthesized by combining Ce/Gd@HA nanoparticles with polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) to investigate whether implanted Ce/Gd@HA/PLGA composites could promote osteoblast viability, leading to tibia repair of the rats and enhance MRI. The measurement results contain X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) showing that HA doped with Ce3+ and Gd3+ was still a hexagonal crystal with high crystallinity. The synthesized Ce/Gd@HA/PLGA composites have a structure and obvious magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) capability. The in vitro experimental results indicated that Ce/Gd@HA/PLGA composites significantly promoted the performance of MC3T3-E1 cells, containing proliferation, adhesion, and osteogenic differentiation capacities. These include the improvement of alkaline phosphatase activity, enhancement of mineral deposition, and upregulation of OCN and COL-1 gene expression. The in vivo experimental results demonstrated that the Ce/Gd@HA/PLGA composites significantly improved the healing rate of rat bone defects. The MRI images indicated that the Ga-doped composites were observed in the MRI T1 sequence in rats. The aforementioned results suggested that Ce/Gd@HA/PLGA composites not only effectively promoted bone formation but also enhanced MRI capability. The composites synthesized in this study have great potential in bone regeneration with an extensive application in bone tissue engineering.