Biologically active polysaccharides from medicinal plants of the Far East

Abstract

Plant polysaccharides are attracting ever-increasing attention as an important class of biopolymers possessing a broad spectrum of biological action. Antitumoral, immunostimulating, hypoglycemic, anticomplement, antiinflammatory, anticoagulant, and other types of activities have been found in these compounds [1][2][3][4].The rich and unique flora of the Far East may serve as a source of biologically active polysaccharides. To select the most interesting and promising sources, we have made a comparative study of ten species of plants from six families of the Far Eastern flora: Polgonatum odoratum (Mill.) The roots and epigeal parts of the plants were investigated separately. The raw material was comminuted and treated with methanol to eliminate low-molecular-mass compounds. The polysaccharides were isolated by successive extraction with water and solutions of ammonium oxalate and sodium hydroxide, with heating. The total yield (7-30 % on the dry weight of the raw material) and the distribution of the polysaccharides over the fractions depended primarily on the source (Table 1).The qualitative and quantitative monosaccharide compositions of the polysaccharides isolated were established after acid hydrolysis by means of PC and GLC in the form of polyol acetates. Uronic acids were determined by a known procedure [6]. The monosaccharide composkions of the polysaccharides are given in Table 1.All the polysaccharides isolated had practically the same qualitative monosaccharide composition and contained residues of arabinose, galactose, glucose, uronic acids, and, more rarely, rhamnose and mannose; xylose was mainly present in trace amounts. An exception was formed by the monosaccharides of Arctium lappa, which, together with the monosaccharides common for all the plants, contained a considerable amount of fructose. The quantitative monosaccharide compositions depended on the method of extraction and the source of the polysaccharides.The polysaccharides of the aqueous extracts were characterized by a higher level of glucose than the oxalate and alkaline extracts. It is most probable that the higher level of glucose in the water-soluble polymers is explained by the presence of a glucan -a reserve polysaccharide of plants. This hypothesis was confirmed by an increase in the amount of glucose in polysaccharides from raw material gathered in the autumn, when there is an accumulation of reserve polysaccharides. It must be mentioned that the biopolymers of the oxalate extracts both of the roots and of the epigeal parts contained a larger amount of uronic acids than the other extracts, with the exception of the polysaccharides from the stems of Saposhnikovia divaricata.

De novo transcriptome sequencing and analysis of genes related to salt stress response in Glehnia littoralis

“…G. littoralis roots (Radix Glehniae) are rich in polysaccharides, phospholipids, coumarins, coumarin glycosides and polyacetylenes ( Tomshich et al, 1997 ; Yuan et al, 2002 ). G. littoralis grows naturally in coastal regions, and is considered a high-quality medicinal herb in traditional Chinese medicine.…”

RAW264.7 Cell Activating Glucomannans Extracted from Rhizome of Polygonatum sibiricum

“…They have been used as a functional food and as a well-known Chinese traditional medicine with health effects on removing dryness, promoting fluid secretion, and quenching thirst ( 1 ). It has been reported that a variety of chemical components of Polygonatum species possess different biological properties, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, antitumor, and immunomodulatory activities ( 2 ). Liu et al reported that the water extract of Polygonatum sibiricum was capable of reducing blood glucose and lipid levels, regulating and enhancing the immune system, and fighting aging ( 3 ).…”

Structure and Bioactivities of Fungal Polysaccharides

“…However, the polysaccharides from Irpex lacteus have been seldom reported. Many active compounds have been identified in Polygonatum odoratum such as mucous polysaccharides and homoisoflavanones (Tomshich et al 1997), azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (Baek et al 2012;Kim et al 2006), saponin (Deng et al 2012), andsteroidal compounds (Sugiyama et al 1984). Among them, polysaccharides are abundant in Polygonatum odoratum and considered as one of the most important bioactive components with antitumor, antidiabetic, and antioxidant functions.…”

“…Extraction of polysaccharides from Polygonatum odoratum is an important approach to further research or scale application. Tomshich et al (1997) reported extraction and purification of polysaccharides from ten medicinal plants including Polygonatum odoratum, and several reports were documented on extraction and bioactivities of polysaccharides from this species in recent years (Baek et al 2012). …”