Progresses in the study of polysaccharide from medicinal plants of the Asclepiadaceae family

Abstract

Medicinal plants from the Asclepiadaceae family, such as Luo Mo (Metaplexis japonica Makino), Xu Changqing (Cynanchum paniculatum), and Bai Wei (Cynanchum atratum Bge.), have long been staples in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) due to their wide range of pharmacological activities (Su et al., 2021) [1]. These beneficial properties are largely attributed to compounds like saponins, alkaloids, and polysaccharides. Polysaccharides, in particular, are vital components in TCM and have garnered increasing attention for their diverse therapeutic effects. Polysaccharides from Asclepiadaceae plants are reported to exhibit a variety of pharmacological activities, including anti-radiation, anti-tumor, anti-fatigue, antioxidant, anti-hyperlipidemic, immune-boosting, and liver-protective effects. These polysaccharides have complex structures made up of different monosaccharides, contributing to their wide range of activities. In this review, we provide a comprehensive summary of the isolation, purification, structural characterization, and pharmacological activities of polysaccharides from medicinal plants in the Asclepiadaceae family. We begin by outlining the methods used for the extraction, isolation, and purification of these polysaccharides. Next, we delve into the pharmacological activities of the isolated polysaccharides. Finally, we discuss the potential clinical applications of these polysaccharides in treating various diseases and highlight areas that require further investigation.

Keywords

Polysaccharide / Pharmacological activity / Asclepiadaceae family / Traditional Chinese medicine

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests or personal relationships that may have influenced the work reported in this study.

Data availability

Not applicable.

Ethics approval

Not applicable.

Funding information

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.82104049) and the Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation (No.ZR2021QH252).

CRediT authorship contribution statement

He Xiao: Writing - original draft, Software, Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis. Ziqing Zeng: Visualization, Conceptualization. Wenjie Jiang: Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

Images of rats and cells in the Graphical Abstract were obtained from the Biorender website (https://www.biorender.com/). Images of plants were obtained from the Plant Data Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (https://www.plantplus.cn).

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