Abstract: Abalone muscle polysaccharide (AMP) was prepared from the muscle of Haliotis discus hannai Ino by protease hydrolysis combined with fractional precipitation with gradient concentrations of ethanol. Three fractions (AMP-1, AMP-2 and AMP-3) were obtained by DEAE-52 column chromatography. Their physicochemical properties and antitumor activity were investigated. The results of chemical composition suggested that the total sugar content of AMP was 83.9%, while the total sugar content of AMP-1 was 83.8%, which was higher than that of AMP-2 (62.5%) and AMP-3 (31.6%). Monosaccharide composition analysis suggested that AMP was mainly composed of Glc, AMP-1 was almost exclusively composed of Glc, and AMP-2 and AMP-3 were mainly composed of Glc and Gal together with hexosamine. Based on the results of chemical composition as well as ultraviolet spectroscopic and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analyses, AMP-1 was α-pyranose with high purity, while AMP-2 and AMP-3 might be glycoprotein. The results of iodine staining indicated that AMP-1 was a non-starch glucan. Scanning electron microscopy showed that AMP and AMP-1 had a lamellar structure, while AMP-2 and AMP-3 contained many spherical particles. Furthermore, AMP and AMP-1 showed a strong inhibitory activity against both human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 and human liver cancer cell line HepG2.

Key words: abalone muscle, polysaccharide, chemical composition, monosaccharide composition, surface morphology, antitumor activity