Abstract:

To investigate the components of water-soluble polysaccharides of Artemisia sphaerocephala Krasch seed gum, crude Artemisia sphaerocephala Krasch seed gum polysaccharides (CASP) were isolated through hot water extraction, ethanol precipitation and deproteinazation, and then were fractionated into ASPI, ASPII, ASPIII and ASPIV by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. ASPI was purified by Bio-Gel P-150 column chromatography and one fraction (ASPI-A) was obtained. ASPIII was fractionated into ASPⅢ-A, ASPⅢ-B and ASPⅢ-C by Sephadex G-75 column chromatography. Monosaccharide analysis by GC showed that the ASPI-A is composed of arabinose, mannose, glucose and galactose with a molar ratio of 1:2.84:4.89:1.92; The ASPIII-A is composed of xylose and slight rhamnose arabinose, glucose, galactose, glucuronic acid and galacturonic acid. High performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC) showed that the ASPI-A is homogeneous polysaccharide with an average relative molecular mass of 5.42×104 D and the relative molecular mass of ASPIII-A is more than 4×105 D. The immunological activity assay revealed that in the presence of Con A , ASPI-A and ASPIII-A can increase the splenocyte proliferation in mice in a certain range of concentration; ASPIII-A may have a certain immunosuppression activity in higher concentration.

Key words: Artemisia sphaerocephala Krasch seed gum, polysaccharide, separation and purification, immunological activity