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Shimadzu Corporation, DKS Co., Ltd. (Kyoto City, hereinafter DKS), and Professor Shigeo Horie of Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University signed a technical partnership agreement regarding techniques used to identify functional properties of biologically active substances contained in foods and pharmaceuticals. The technical partnership will research Cordyceps sinensis, a “caterpillar fungus” obtained using a proprietary manufacturing method developed by Biococoon Laboratories, Inc. (Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture), a group company of DKS.

From the left, Takashi Sakamoto, Chairman CEO, DKS; Shigeo Horie, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University; and Teruhisa Ueda, Chairman, Shimadzu Corporation

Biococoon Laboratories discovered Naturido, a new beneficial component in Cordyceps sinensis, and published a paper in the international academic journal PLOS ONE in 2021 that suggested Naturido offers cognitive functional benefits. DKS has been conducting clinical testing to research the functional benefits of Cordyceps sinensis, such as improved cognitive function, improved sleep quality, and increased testosterone, which is sometimes referred to as an energizing hormone.

The purpose of the technical partnership is to measure the effects and determine mechanisms of action of Naturido using the knowledge of Professor Horie from Juntendo University and Shimadzu analytical technologies in order to establish methods for identifying the components that contribute to functional benefits. Specifically, Naturido extraction methods will be improved using a Shimadzu Nexera UC supercritical fluid^*1 chromatograph system. Furthermore, mass spectrometry technology for identifying components involved in metabolomics^*2 and functional properties will be used to determine the mechanisms related to the functional benefits of Cordyceps sinensis fungus and also to identify the components involved in the functional properties of substances other than Naturido. Shimadzu intends to use the technical partnership to improve Nexera UC systems and develop analytical methods for metabolomics.
The unique SUPOFULL health improvement platform developed by Shimadzu is a tool used to improve user health awareness by visualizing changes in day-to-day health data, such as advanced glycation end products (AGEs) score values or skeletal muscle mass index values, and providing health advice. The technical partnership will use the SUPOFULL platform to monitor the health benefits of Naturido and other Cordyceps sinensis fungi. Shimadzu will contribute to safer foods and longer healthy life expectancies through food quality assurance and research of unknown components.

• • Naturido is a registered trademark of Biococoon Laboratories, Inc. 
• • SUPOFULL is a registered trademark of Shimadzu Corporation.

• *1 Substances can be a gas, liquid, solid, or other forms depending on the temperature and pressure, but if temperature and pressure exceed certain levels, the substances can have properties of both a gas and liquid. Due to higher solubility than gases and higher diffusivity than liquids, supercritical fluids are used to extract or separate components. Those processes are referred to as supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and, used in combination with a separation column, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), respectively. Though all substances have a supercritical fluid state, for safety and availability reasons, mainly carbon dioxide is used for analytical chemistry. 
   
• *2 The wide variety of small molecule compounds in the body, such as amino acids, sugars, fats, organic acids, and sterols, help sustain life or biological reaction as metabolites generated by metabolism within the body or food intake. The technique of comprehensively analyzing the types and quantities of all such metabolites is referred to as metabolomics. Given that the respective types of metabolites present reflect metabolic fluctuations within the body, due to diet, disease, or other factors, metabolomics is used to research dietary effects and disease biomarkers.