title: A comparison study between different molecular weight polysaccharides derived from Lentinus edodes and their antioxidant activities in vivo.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Polysaccharide purified Lentinus edodes (Berk.) Sing (Tricholomataceae) has been reported to attenuate oxidative stress in vitro.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated whether polysaccharides from L. edodes with different molecular weight have protective effects against oxidative stress induced by D-galactose (D-gal) in vivo, and determined the specific relationship between molecular weight and antioxidant activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present study, we successfully obtained three purified polysaccharides, coded as LT1, LT2, and LT3, and their molecular weights were 25.5, 306.2, and 605.4 kDa, respectively. The D-gal-treated mice received three polysaccharides once daily for 60 days. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), and erythrocyte membrane fluidity were measured to evaluate the changes of the antioxidant ability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was demonstrated that the administration of LT1, LT2, and LT3 could improve the antioxidant status to different levels. Furthermore, LT2 exhibited the highest antioxidant ability among these samples in vivo. Indeed, LT2 significantly decreased the content of MDA in liver (15.91 ± 0.31 versus 23.79 ± 1.18 nmol/mg protein for the model group, p < 0.05), enhanced the fluidity of erythrocyte membrane (2.458 ± 0.023 versus 2.167 ± 0.024 for the model group, p < 0.05), and increased the activities of SOD (147.19 ± 4.90 versus 82.26 ± 5.55 units/mg protein for the model group, p < 0.05) and GSH-Px (310.91 ± 6.24 versus 243.64 ± 6.77 units/mg protein for the model group, p < 0.05) in liver.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The LT2 had a potential to be used as a novel natural antioxidant.
authors.affiliation: Hubei Key Laboratory of Nature Medicinal Chemistry and Resource Evaluation, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Ruxu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: Kaiping
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jinyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Maochang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D048690:Fruiting Bodies, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000737:chemistry; D020074:Lentinula / Q000737:chemistry*; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000737:chemistry; D008560:Membrane Fluidity / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D008970:Molecular Weight; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D011134:Polysaccharides; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase