Structural characterisation and immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides from white asparagus skin

Hydrogen Peroxide Effects on Natural-Sourced Polysacchrides: Free Radical Formation/Production, Degradation Process, and Reaction Mechanism—A Critical Synopsis

“…The molecular weight of polysaccharides is the basis for their bioactivities. Polysaccharides with high molecular weight are associated with low bioactivity, due to the compactness of their structures, low surface area, and stronger intramolecular hydrogen bonds [30]. Interestingly, the intrinsic viscosity and water solubility of polysaccharides depends significantly on their molecular weight, which could indicate a clear correlation between these properties.…”

“…In addition, the rate of polysaccharide degradation into lower molecular weight (degraded) polysaccharide significantly depends on the concentration of degradation reagent (H 2 O 2 ). A high molecular weight Astragalus polysaccharide (11,033 Da) treated with different concentrations of H 2 O 2 (4%, 6%, and 14%) was significantly modified (degraded) to lower molecular weight polysaccharides of 8376, 4716, and 2600 Da, respectively [30]. Therefore, whilst degradation of polysaccharides enhances their bioactivities, the rate of degradation into lower molecular weights is determined by the concentration of H 2 O 2 which was utilized during the degradation.…”

“…The structure of polysaccharides influences their biological activity [30]. Polysaccharide degradation can produce different types of structures with varying bioactivities which lays a solid foundation for the functionality of the degraded or modified polysaccharide [94].…”

“…Polysaccharides are among the most abundant biomaterials which have attracted serious research interest in the field of pharmacology and biochemistry [25,28,29]. In recent years, polysaccharides obtained from natural (plants, animals, and microorganisms) sources have shown promising biological activity, such as antioxidation, antitumor, immunity, hypoglycaemic, and anti-aging properties, as well as cardiovascular, liver, and kidney protective effects [30][31][32][33][34], which is indicative of their high potential, especially in the field of medicine [25,35]. However, the high molecular viscosity/weight of many polysaccharides is considered to limit their pharmaceutical application.…”

Structural Features of Three Hetero-Galacturonans from Passiflora foetida Fruits and Their in Vitro Immunomodulatory Effects

“…Among the salt-eluted polysaccharides, such as galactans, glucans, galacturonans, galacturonans have attracted more attention in modern pharmacology [5][6][7]. It is one kind of polysaccharides with a backbone of galactopyranouronic (GalpAc) residues and mostly distributed in plants as heterozygotes, which have extensively gained concerns because of their multiple biological properties, especially the immunomodulatory activities [8][9][10][11][12]. Studies have shown that these galacturonans derived from different plants (such as sweet cherry, stem lettuce, Gynostemma pentaphyllum tea, and elderflowers) with different molecular weights (9~2490 kDa) and different percentages of galacturonic acid (17.4%-77.18%) exhibited various immunoregulatory effects on macrophages by enhancing production of NO and cytokines at the minimum effective concentration (0.8~100 µg/mL).…”