COMPARISON OF POLYSACCHARIDES ISOLATED FROM THE MYCELIA OF A CULTIVATED STRAIN OF PORIA COCOS GROWN IN DIFFERENT LIQUID CULTURE MEDIA

Mycelium of a cultivated strain of Poria cocos was grown by submerged fermentation in a liquid mediumcontaining corn steep liquor with orbital shaking. Six polysaccharides coded as ac-PCM1, ac-PCM2, ac-PCM3-Ⅰ andⅡ, ac-PCM4-Ⅰand Ⅱ were isolated from the myelium by extracting with 0.9% NaCl aqueous solution, hot water, 0.5 mol/L NaOHaqueous solution and 88% formic acid. Exo-polysaccharide was obtained from the culture medium and coded as ac-PCM0.The monosaccharide composition and molecular weights of these polysaccharides were characterized by using infraredspectroscopy, gas chromaography, elemental analysis, ~(13)C-NMR, viscometry and light scattering. The results indicated thatac-PCM0, ac-PCM1 and ac-PCM2 are heteropolysaccharides containing glucose, galactose, mannose and fucose, and ac-PCM3-Ⅰ and ac-PCM3-Ⅱ mainly consist of D-glucose. The content of the glucose in the polysaccharides increased with theisolation progress. Remarkably, α-glucan and β-glucan coexisted in the extract by NaOH aqueous solution (ac-PCM3), andcould be separated by chemical methods. The protein in the ac-PCM polysaccharides cultured from the medium containingcorn steep liquor was higher than that in the ab-PCM from the medium with bran extract. Therefore, the polysaccharidesfrom Poria cocos mycelia cultured in different media have different chemical composition, molecular weights and conformations.     

INFLUENCE OF MOLECULAR WEIGHT AND PERIODATE-MODIFICATION OF β-D-GLUCANS FROM PORIA COCOS SCLEROTIUM ON ANTITUMOR ACTIVITIES*

In this work, influence of molecular weight and periodate modification ofβ-D-glucans isolated from Poria cocos sclerotium on the antitumor activities against Sar-coma 180 and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) tumor was studied. The results show thattwo glucans PC3 (linear β-(1→3)-D-glucan) and PC4 [β-(1→3)-D-glucan with a fewof branches and glucuronic acid] are devoid of antitumor activity. However, when theglucans were modified by periodate oxidation, borohydride reduction and mild hydrolysisor partially hydrolysis, the derivatives have obvious antitumor activities. The decreasein molecular weight of glucans after periodate modification hardly affects their antitumoractions, but on the other hand, the decrease of molecular weight without periodate modi-fication could lead to an enhancement of the antitumor activities. Moreover, the glucansand these derivatives have much higher enhancement ratios of body weight of mice thanthat of 5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu), suggesting that they are less toxic than 5-Fu.