Bioactive Compounds from Medicinal Mushrooms.

Research progress of active compounds and biological activities of medicinal mushroom-Ganoderma spp., Hericium spp., Phellinus spp., and Cordyceps spp. were summarized systematically. The main active compounds of medicinal mushrooms included are polysaccharides, proteins, triterpenes, meroterpenoids, polyphenols and nitrogen-containing compounds. The biological activities of the compounds cover immunomodulatory activity, antitumor activity, hypoglycemic activity, hepatoprotective activity, and activity of regulation of intellectual flora.

Physicochemical and functional characterization of mannan exopolysaccharide from Weissella confusa MD1 with bioactivities.

The present study focused on production, optimization and characterization of exopolysaccharide (EPS) from Weissella confusa MD1. The purified EPS MD1 was also evaluated for in vitro biological activities. The maximum yield of EPS (10.07 ± 0.32 g/L) was obtained with optimized culture conditions of 35 °C at pH 6.5 for 36 h with 4% (w/v) galactose and 1% (w/v) ammonium nitrate supplemented in MRS broth. The crude EPS was purified with diethylamino ethanol-Sepharose Fast Flow column and Sephadex-G 75 column. The physicochemical and functional characterization of the EPS was done by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC), high-performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), thermo gravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric (TG-DSC) analysis, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). HPGPC analysis showed molecular weight of purified EPS MD1 as 2.909 KDa. Monosaccharide analysis showed that EPS was a novel mannan with mannose as the only monomeric unit present, suggesting EPS to be a homopolysaccharide containing â†’ 6) α-Man p (1 â†’ linkages. Microstructure studies by SEM showed MD1 EPS has globular and porous structure. The purified EPS MD1 exhibited higher thermal stability having degradation temperature around 267.74 °C with melting enthalpy value (Δ H) of 337.7 J/g. The EPS showed promising antioxidant activities with excellent antibiofilm activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica and Salmonella typhi. These striking physicochemical characteristics features and bioactivities of EPS would serve as potential candidate in food processing industry to be used as food adjunct in foods with health benefits. This is the first study reporting a mannan homopolysaccharide from Weissella sp. to be structurally characterized.

Wound dressings from naturally-occurring polymers: A review on homopolysaccharide-based composites.

Wound dressings are designed to support the wound bed and protect it from the factors that may delay or impede its healing such as contaminations and moisture-loss, thereby facilitating and accelerating the healing process. The materials used to prepare wound dressings include natural and synthetic polymers, as well as their combinations, in the forms of films, sponges and hydrogels. Polysaccharides are naturally-occurring polymers that have been extensively used as wound dressing materials. Homopolysaccharides are a class of polysaccharides consist of only one type of monosaccharide. The current review intends to overview the studies in which wound dressings from naturally-occurring polymers, based on homopolysaccharides, were prepared and evaluated. Homopolysaccharides such as cellulose, chitosan, chitin, pullulan, starch and ß-glucan were considered.

Physicochemical properties of a water soluble extracellular homopolysaccharide from Lactobacillus reuteri SK24.003.

A water soluble exopolysaccharide was obtained from Lactobacillus reuteri SK24.003 and its rheological and structural properties were investigated. The polysaccharide yield reached around 40.8g/L for 48h of fermentation. The purified exopolysaccharide was an α-d-glucan with the molecular weight of 2.50×10(7)g/mol. Thermal analysis showed the exopolysaccharide broke down above 200°C, the weight dramatically lost (around 53.0%) from 230 to 340°C and the melting point was 147.7°C with the enthalpy value of 78.4J/g. The glucan solution (3.0-9.0%, v/w) has an opalescent, milky-white color and the concentration affected the depth of color. The viscosity increased rapidly with concentration in the range of 3.0-20% (w/v) with relatively high viscosity as well as poor solubility at a concentration higher than 20% (w/v). The solution also exhibited the non-Newtonian pseudoplastic behavior with increasing shear rate from 0.01 to 100l/s. This glucan had a high viscosity in solution and this could make it suitable for usage as gum substitute in some processing food.