An unusual heteropolysaccharide was isolated from the fruiting bodies of the medicinal mushroom Grifola frondosa, via successive cold aqueous extraction, followed by fractionation through freeze-thawing, precipitation with Fehling solution and dialysis using a membrane with a size exclusion cut-off of 500 kDa. Its chemical structure was determined based on total acid hydrolysis, methylation analysis and NMR studies. The mannofucogalactan had a molar mass of 15.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHot aqueous extraction of the basidiocarps of the mushroom Pleurotus sajor-caju provided a cold water-soluble, gel-like glucan, which was characterized chemically, and its effects on RAW 264.7 cell line (mouse leukaemic monocyte macrophage) activation were determined. NMR spectroscopy, HPSEC, methylation analysis, and a controlled Smith degradation showed it to have a branched structure with a (1→3)-linked β-Glcp main-chain, substituted at O-6 by single-unit β-Glcp side-chains, on the average of two to every third residues of the backbone, with a molar mass of 9.
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