title: A mini-review of chemical and biological properties of polysaccharides from Momordica charantia.
abstract: Recently, isolation and characterization of bioactive polysaccharides from natural resources have attracted increasing interest. Momordica charantia L. (M. charantia), belongs to the Curcubitaceae family, which is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and has been used as herbal medicine and a vegetable for thousands of years. M. charantia polysaccharides, as major active ingredients of M. charantia, have attracted a great deal of attention because of their various biological activities, such as antitumor, immunomodulation, antioxidant, anti-diabetes, radioprotection, and hepatoprotection. The present review provides the most complete summary of the research progress on the polysaccharides isolated from M. charantia, including the extraction, separation, physical-chemical properties, structural characteristics, and bioactivities during the last ten years. This review also provides a foundation for the further development and application in the field of M. charantia polysaccharides.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China.
authors.forename: Lihua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China. Electronic address: jhxie@ncu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D029777:Momordica charantia / Q000737:chemistry*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D011134:Polysaccharides
keywords: Biological activities; Characterization; Momordica charantia; Physicochemical; Polysaccharides; Structure