A water-soluble polysaccharide from Eucommia folium: the structural characterization and anti-tumor activity in vivo

• Published in: Glycoconjugate journal Vol. 39; no. 6; pp. 759 - 772
• Main Authors: Yan, Zhi-Qian, Ding, Su-Yun, Chen, Pei, Liu, Hui-Ping, Chang, Meng-Li, Shi, Shu-Yuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.12.2022
• Subjects: Animals; Galactose; Mice; Molecular Weight; Polysaccharides - chemistry; Rhamnose; Water; Antitumor activity; Eucommia folium polysaccharide; Structure characterization; Human hepatocellular carcinoma
• ISSN: 0282-0080; 1573-4986; 1573-4986
• DOI: 10.1007/s10719-022-10086-4

In this study, a water-soluble polysaccharide from Eucommia folium was extracted by hot water and purified using Sephadex G-200 gel columns. The results showed that the purified fraction (EFP) has a molecular weight of 9.98 × 10  Da and consisted of rhamnose, arabinose, galactose, glucose, mannose, xylose, galacturonic acid, and glucuronic acid (molar ratio: 0.226: 1.739: 2.183: 1: 0.155: 0.321: 0.358: 0.047). The combination of infrared spectroscopy and NMR analysis proved that EFP is an acidic polysaccharide whose main chain consists of α-L-Araf-(1 → , → 3,5)-α-Araf-(1 → , → 3)-β-Galp-(1 → , → 3,6)-β-Glcp-(1 → , → 2)-α-D-Manp-(1 → , → 4)-α-GalpA-(1 → , → 2,4)-α-Rhap-(1 → . In addition, the in vivo antitumoral activity of EFP was studied using a H22 tumor-bearing mice model. EFP effectively inhibited tumor growth in mice following intragastric administration. By Combining with the results of the apoptosis assay and JC-1 staining analysis, we confirmed that EFP induces apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway. Furthermore, cell cycle analysis demonstrated that EFP blocks the cell cycle at S phase.