The temperature reaction in tuberculous and normal guinea pigs and rabbits is elicited by the tuberculo-protein and probably not at all by the polysaccharides. The polysaccharides may have some killing power under certain conditions, but this is not as consistently related to dosage as in the case of the proteins. Both proteins and polysaccharides cause a change in the white blood cells when in...

BACKGROUND The increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has kindled the need for scientific evaluation of the mechanism of action of CAMs. Although, licorice, a common ingredient in many Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has attracted great attention for its antitumor and immunomodulatory activities, the mechanism of action of its polysaccharides is still unclear. Here we...

Ice nucleation and growth is an important and widespread environmental process. Accordingly, nature has developed means to either promote or inhibit ice crystal formation, for example ice-nucleating proteins in bacteria or ice-binding antifreeze proteins in polar fish. Recently, it was found that birch pollen release ice-nucleating macromolecules when suspended in water. Here we show that birch...

Polysaccharides were isolated from Phyllostachys acuta leaves by microwave-assisted extraction under various temperatures and time. The obtained polysaccharides were characterized by acid hydrolysis, the FolinCiocalteu method, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The major monosaccharides presented in the extracts were arabinose (258.0 mg/g to 414.5 mg/g), galactose (167.0 mg/g t...

Bacillus anthracis is surrounded by an antiphagocytic capsule composed of poly-gamma-d-glutamic acid (gammaDPGA). Bacterial and fungal capsular polysaccharides are shed into body fluids in large amounts during infection. The goal of our study was to examine the in vivo fate and distribution of the gammaDPGA capsular polypeptide. Mice were injected via the intravenous route with various amounts ...

Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of polysaccharides from mulberry leaves was studied. The effects of four factors on the yield of polysaccharides were investigated. The results showed that optimum conditions were extraction power of 60W, extraction temperature of 60°C, extraction time of 20min and ratio of water to raw material of 15:1 (ml/g). The three different methods (UAE, MAE and CSE) ...

The aim of this study was to quantify mucilages, pectins, hemicelluloses, and cellulose of nopalitos (edible, as vegetable, young cladodes of flat-stemmed spiny cacti) of most consumed Mexican cultivars, and sweet and acid cactus pear fruits of Opuntia spp. The hypothesis is that, regardless of their unavailable polysaccharides diversity, nopalitos and cactus pear fruits are rich sources of sol...

Two polysaccharides, named KCA and KCW, were extracted from Kjellmaniella crassifolia using dilute hydrochloric acid and water, respectively. Composition analysis showed that these polysaccharides predominantly consisted of fucose, with galactose, mannose and glucuronic acid as minor components. After degradation and partial desulfation, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was pe...

L-Arabinose is a useful sugar in the food industry. We demonstrate here simple methods for refining arabinan polysaccharides by alcohol extraction from prune, Prunus domestica L., as a source of L-arabinose. Alcohol-soluble polysaccharides were purified from a solution of prune extracted by 80% ethanol. After fractionating the polysaccharides by ion-exchange chromatography, arabinans were ident...

The extracellular matrix in biofilm consists of water, proteins, polysaccharides, nucleic acids and phospholipids. Synthesis of these components is influenced by many factors, e.g. environment conditions or carbon source. The aim of the study was to analyse polysaccharides levels in Proteus mirabilis biofilms after exposure to stress and nutritional conditions. Biofilms of 22 P. mirabilis strai...