[Analysis and prospect of correlation between relative molecular weight and efficacy of polysaccharides from medicinal plant resources].

Polysaccharides from medicinal plant resources are a kind of polymers extracted from medicinal plants. They are complex long chains formed by different monosaccharides connected via glucosidic bonds. These polysaccharides usually have straight chain and branched chain structures, and their relative molecular weight changes greatly. Modern studies have shown that the biological activi-ty of polysaccharides from medicinal plant resources is closely related to their relative molecular weight. This paper first reviewed the preparation and detection methods of polysaccharides from medicinal plant resources with different relative molecular weights. Then, the paper summarized and analyzed the general experience of the correlation between efficacy and relative molecular weight of polysaccharides from medicinal plant resources with different molecular weights. It was considered that polysaccharides with large relative molecular weights(>100 kDa) play a leading role in immune regulation. Polysaccharides with medium relative molecular weights(10-100 kDa) play a leading role in immune regulation and the protection of the liver. Polysaccharides with small relative molecular weights(<10 kDa) play a leading role in anti-oxidation, regulation of intestinal flora, regulation of blood glucose and lipids, anti-fatigue, and the protection of nerves. Therefore, precise development of polysaccharides from medicinal plant resources based on relative molecular weight is expected to improve their biological activity and application value.

Thin polymer-layer decorated, structure adjustable crystals of nanoparticles.

Flattened polymer chain decorated crystals of nanoparticles (NPs) are observed for polymer-NP mixtures confined between two parallel substrates. In order to minimize the entropy loss, polymer chains instead of NPs aggregate at the substrate surfaces when the number of NPs is high enough to have the conformation of chains significantly disturbed. Increasing NP concentration to be much higher than that of polymer chains leads to an ordered arrangement of NPs in the central region, which are sandwiched between two thin layers of polymer chains. A scaling model regarding polymer chains consisting of packed correlation blobs is provided to clarify the physics mechanism behind the formation of thin polymer layer and the crystallization of NPs. The order structure of the crystallized NPs is shown to be switchable through an adjustment of the bulk concentrations of polymer chains and NPs.