title: Purification and partial characterization of an acidic polysaccharide with complement fixing ability from the stems of Avicennia marina.
abstract: An acidic polysaccharide fraction that had high anticomplementary activity was isolated from the stems of Grey Mangrove in 0.15% yield. The final fractions was designated HAM-3-IIb-II. The polysaccharide fraction appeared to be homogenous by high performance size exclusion chromatography with an estimated molecular weight of 105 kDa. The isolated polysaccharide is more effective than polysaccharide K (PSK) in its anticomplementary activity at 58 microg/ml of PSK and 23 microg/ml of HAM-3-IIb-II that inhibit 50% of complement activity in the complement fixation assay. Structural studies indicated that HAM-3-IIb-II was rich in galacturonic acid along with arabinose, galactose and rhamnose, characterizing a pectin-type polysaccharide, which was also confirmed by FT-IR spectrum. The presence of rich neutral sugar side chains of arabinogalactans may have contributed to the expression of high activity. Traditionally, this mangrove plant is used for medicinal purposes and it appears to have some scientific applications.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Food Science and Safety, Ministry of Education, Southern Yangtze University, Wuxi 214036, China.
authors.forename: Xubo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Xiaolan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D032407:Avicennia / Q000737:chemistry*; D003167:Complement Activation; D003168:Complement Fixation Tests; D003169:Complement Inactivator Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004912:Erythrocytes; D006801:Humans; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000737:chemistry; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012756:Sheep; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D003169:Complement Inactivator Proteins; D010936:Plant Extracts; D011134:Polysaccharides; D003165:Complement System Proteins