Physicochemical Properties, Microstructure, and Antioxidant and Anti-inflammation Effects of Four Major Polysaccharides from Tremella / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To isolate four polysaccharides from Tremella and study their physicochemical properties, microstructures, antioxidant activities and anti-inflammation effects. METHODS: The polysaccharides were purified using water extraction method, DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B and Sephadex G-100. The physicochemical properties and microstructures were studied using high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), gas chromatography (GC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. Anti-inflammation activities of the polysaccharides were identified using real time quantitative PCR. RESULTS: Four kinds of major polysaccharides (TABW-Ⅱ, TFBW-Ⅱ, TEPW-Ⅱ and TSPW-) were purified from water-extraction crude polysaccharides from Tremella. TABW-Ⅱ, TFBW-Ⅱ, TEPW-Ⅱ and TSPW- were homogeneous with relative molecular mass 26×103, 11×103, 21×103 and 356×103, respectively, and they consisted mainly of glucose and mannose. TEM reveale that their molecular morphologies were linear, and TSPW- had more extended structure with entangled chains. Compared with vitamin C (Vc), TSPW- showed more noticeable scavenging effects of superoxide (EC50=0.127 mg•mL-1) and hydroxyl (EC50=0.088 mg•mL-1) radicals (P<0.05). TSPW- also showed the highest inhibitory effects of TNF-α, IL-6 and COX-2 mRNA expressions in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage cells, and the inhibitory effects were more than 95% at 150 μg•mL-1 TSPW-. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that TSPW- with entangled and extended liner structures have more obvious antioxidant and anti-inflammation effects than other major polysaccharides from Tremella family. Furthermore, this study indicates the potential utilization of Tremella polysaccharides in anti-inflammatory agents.