Anti-hyperglycemic effect of the polysaccharide fraction isolated from mactra veneriformis

Abstract

Total macromolecule extract was obtained from the soft body of Mactra veneriformis by the coupling techniques of decoction and alcohol precipitation. The extract was deproteinized with an ion exchange column, and resulted in the purifying of the crude polysaccharide fraction. It was found by chemical analysis that the crude polysaccharide part is composed of abundant polysaccharides (>95%) and few proteins (<1%). Furthermore, only one type of monosaccharide, glucose, was detected from its hydrolytes by thin-layer chromatography, indicating that the polysaccharides might be analogs of glucosan. The anti-hyperglycemia effects of the crude polysaccharide part were preliminarily investigated using several pharmacological methods in normal and diabetic mice. Animal experimental results showed that the crude polysaccharide fraction exhibited proper glycemia inhibition activity, and 300 mg/kg-weight dose has the optimal effect among all the studied doses. It is concluded that the crude polysaccharide fraction can be explored as a novel health product that possesses potential as an anti-hyperglycemic agent.

Keywords

anti-hyperglycemia / Mactra veneriformis / polysaccharide / monosaccharide composition / oral glucose tolerance test

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Acknowledgments

The financial grant for this work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30900293) and the R&D Special Fund for Public Welfare Industry from State Ocean Administration of China (No. 200709005). The authors also wish to thank Luan H E and Jin Y for their contributions and active participation, and Mr. Wan X H and Miss Bian H M for technical assistance.

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg