Polysaccharides from Umbilicaria esculenta cultivated in Huangshan Mountain and immunomodulatory activity

Umbilicaria esculenta cultivated in Huangshan Mountain (HSSE) is precious edible and medicinal lichen. In this study, four polysaccharide fractions designated as UEP1, UEP2. UEP3. and UEP4 were isolated from HSSE with water extraction at different temperature. The physico-chemical properties and immunomodulatory activities of polysaccharide fractions were investigated. The results indicated that UEP1, UEP2, UEP3 and UEP4 were acid polysaccharide with 0.50%, 0.62%, 0.63%, and 0.83% of uronic acid contents, respectively. Four polysaccharide fractions were mainly composed of glucose, galactose and mannose with different molar ratio. In the in vitro immunomodulatory assay, all the polysaccharide fractions (20-500 mu g/mL) could increase the NO production and phagocytic activity of RAW 264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. This work demonstrated that the polysaccharides from HSSE could be used as potential biological response modifier. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.