Ultrasonic/microwave-assisted extraction of polysaccharides from Camptotheca acuminata fruits and its antitumor activity

In the present study, an efficient ultrasonic/microwave-assisted extraction (UMAE) procedure for the polysaccharides from the fruit of Camptotheca acuminata (CAFP) was investigated and optimized. Under the optimum conditions (ratio of liquid to raw material 30 mL/g, microwave irradiation time of 20 min, microwave irradiation power of 570W and a fixed ultrasonic power of 50W obtained by the response surface analysis with Box-Behnken design, satisfactory yields of CAFP (6.81 +/- 0.04%) were achieved. The development UMAE technique produced higher yields in a shorter time than conventional hot water extraction (HWE): 20 vs. 120 min. In addition, in vivo CAFP at suitable dose is effective on H22 murine hepatoma strains, and CAFP significantly inhibited the proliferation of human oral carcinoma KB, pancreatic carcinoma BXCP-3 and gastric carcinoma SGC-7901 cells in vitro, indicating CAFP might be suitable for nature antitumor therapeutic agent development.