Structural characterization and immune regulation of a novel polysaccharide from Maerkang Lactarius deliciosus Gray.

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated the structural characterization and immune regulation of a novel polysaccharide from Maerkang Lactarius deliciosus Gray. Chemical methods, high performance gel permeation chromatography, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum and gas chromatography­mass spectrometry were used to characterize the polysaccharide structure. The immunomodulatory abilities of the Maerkang L. deliciosus Gray polysaccharide (LDG­M) were also investigated. LDG­M was primarily composed of ß­D­glucose and α­D­lyxose with the ratio of 21. The possible structure of LDG­M had a backbone of 1,6­linked­ß­D­glucose and 1,4,6­linked­ß­D­glucose, with branches primarily composed of one (1→4)­linked­α­D­lyxose residue. The immunoregulatory activity results demonstrated that LDG­M promoted the proliferation and phagocytosis of macrophages, and induced cytokine release. LDG­M also promoted the proliferation of B cells by affecting the G0/G1, S and G2/M phases. The present study introduced LDG­M as a valuable source with unique immunoregulatory properties.