Extraction, Separation, Purification, Chemical Characterizations, and Biological Activities of Polysaccharides from Chinese Herbal Medicine: A Review

Abstract

Chinese herbal medicine, as a huge and diverse population, is rich in flavonoids, volatile oils, organic acids, terpenoids, alkaloids, and polysaccharides. Polysaccharides are the most important active ingredient in Chinese herbal medicine. Many studies have confirmed that Chinese herbal medicine polysaccharides (CHMPs) have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, anti-tumor, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, regulating intestinal flora, improving immunity, and other biological activities. Obviously, CHMPs have good development potential and application prospects in the fields of biomedicine, food, and health products. However, different extraction and purification methods have a certain impact on the structure of CHMPs, and structure is closely related to its functional characteristics. Hence, a systematic review of the research progress and future prospects of CHMPs is necessary to promote their better understanding. In this paper, current knowledge on extraction, separation, and purification methods, chemical characterizations, and biological activities of CHMPs are summarized. This review provides an important theoretical reference for the further development and utilization of natural polysaccharides.

Application of chromatography in purification and structural analysis of natural polysaccharides: A review

“…The fractions collected in sections are usually tested for carbohydrate content using colorimetric methods to evaluate the separation efficiency and determine the fraction combination strategy. The commonly used methods include phenol-sulfuric acid assay, anthrone sulfuric acid assay, 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid assay, m-hydroxydiphenyl method, and lichenol hydrochloric acid method for the sugar content determination in many studies [18][19][20][21][22][30][31][32].…”

Diversity of fungal community andquality evaluation of Spatholobus suberectus Dunn during the process of mildew

“…Most of Chinese herbal medicine contain polysaccharides, starches, volatile oils and other components, which provide su cient nutritional condition for growth of mold (Zhang et al 2022). Thus, when environment temperature is 25 ~ 35℃ and relative air humidity is over 75% or water content of medicinal materials is over 15%, mold can germinate hypha and produce an enzyme that can dissolve tissue and decompose active components of medicinal materials, causing medicinal value decline or even loss (Li 2018).…”