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Purification and activity characterization of polysaccharides in the medicinal lichen Umbilicaria tornata from Taibai Mountain, China

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Abstract

Water-soluble polysaccharides from Umbilicaria tornata (UTP) were purified and preliminarily characterized. The antioxidant and antitumor activities of crude UTP and two purified fractions (UTP-1 and UTP-2) were evaluated using in vitro experiments. The results showed that the molecular weights of UTP-1 and UTP-2 were 84.86 and 28.66 kDa, respectively. Both UTP-1 and UTP-2 were composed of glucose and xylose, with their molar ratios being 1.3:0.9 and 0.9:4.6, respectively. In addition, crude UTP, UTP-1 and UTP-2 showed dose-dependent DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging and reducing activities. However, crude UTP exhibited stronger antioxidant activity than UTP-1 and UTP-2, particularly in terms of DPPH radicals. Crude UTP and the two purified fractions inhibited the growth of HeLa, HepG2, A375, MCF-7, SGC7901 and Caco2 cancer cells in vitro. Compared with UTP-1 and UTP-2, crude UTP presented significantly higher antitumor activity in vitro against HeLa and HepG2 cells (p < 0.05). These findings provide a scientific basis for the deeper exploration and resource development of U. tornata.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Fostering Talents in Basic Research (J1210063), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT_15R55) and the Start-up Fund of Scientific Research at Northwest University (20160416).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Jiao Shang, Minfeng Fang, Li Zhang, Hui Wang, Guiping Gong, Zhongfu Wang, Ajing Zhao & Huihui Yi

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  1. Jiao Shang
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  2. Minfeng Fang
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  3. Li Zhang
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Correspondence to Minfeng Fang.

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Shang, J., Fang, M., Zhang, L. et al. Purification and activity characterization of polysaccharides in the medicinal lichen Umbilicaria tornata from Taibai Mountain, China. Glycoconj J 35, 107–117 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10719-017-9806-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10719-017-9806-3

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