Abstract:

Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are water-soluble extracellular polysaccharides with potential biological activities.
In this study, we investigated the extraction, purification and anticoagulant activity of the EPS produced by Bifidobacteria
animalis RH. The optimal enzymatic hydrolysis conditions were found to be 120 min hydrolysis using a mixture of neutral
protease with trypsin (1:2) at a total concentration of 2 g/L with an initial pH of 7.5 by orthogonal array design. The EPS
was purified by Sepharose CL-6B column chromatography. The purity was 97.045% and the average molecular mass of
the EPS was 5.946 × 104 D as determined by GPC/MALLS. Furthermore, anticoagulant activity in vitro tests showed
the EPS could significantly prolong activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and thrombin time (TT) in a dosedependent
manner, rather than prothrombin time (PT). These results demonstrated that the EPS exhibited a significant
anticoagulant activity in vitro.

Key words: Bifidobacterium, exopolysaccharides, extraction, purification, anticoagulation