title: A concise method using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine the source of the β-glucan extracted from various mushrooms.
abstract: β-glucan prepared from mushrooms is used in both modern medicine and traditional oriental therapies because of its potent immunomodulatory properties. The effects of β-glucan depend on its structure and origin. Therefore, elucidating the structure and source of β-glucan is crucial for its use in food therapy and medicine. In this study, we performed NMR analysis of β-glucan preparations from various mushrooms in order to determine their structure and source. Our results show that NMR spectroscopy can be used to determine the type of mushrooms from which a β-glucan is derived on the basis of the structure of the β-glucan. We believe that this method will help promote the use of β-glucan in clinical settings and as a health food additive.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Immunopharmacology of Microbial Products, School of Pharmacy, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Japan.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: Naohito
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohno
mesh_terms: D000363:Agaricales / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D013045:Species Specificity; D047071:beta-Glucans / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D047071:beta-Glucans