TY - JOUR
T1 - Impacts of sulfur fumigation on the chemistry and immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides in ginseng
AU - Fang, Jing
AU - Li, Yi Xuan
AU - Luo, Han Yan
AU - Zhang, Wei Hao
AU - Chan, Kam Chun
AU - Chan, Yui Man
AU - Chen, Hu Biao
AU - Zhao, Zhong Zhen
AU - Li, Song Lin
AU - Dong, Cai Xia
AU - Xu, Jun
N1 - Funding information:
This work was supported by Hong Kong General Research Fund (12100219 and 12103919), Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Fund (PRP/003/20FX), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81872975).
Publisher copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PY - 2023/8/30
Y1 - 2023/8/30
N2 - Ginseng is widely regarded as a panacea in Oriental medicine mainly due to its immunomodulatory activity. We previously found that sulfur fumigation, a commonly used pesticidal and anti-bacterial processing practice, weakened the immunomodulatory activity of ginseng. However, if and how sulfur fumigation affects the polysaccharides in ginseng, the crucial components contributing to the immunomodulatory function, remain unknown. Here we report that polysaccharides extracted from sulfur-fumigated ginseng (SGP) presented different chemical properties with polysaccharides extracted with non-fumigated ginseng (NGP), particularly increased water extraction yield and decreased branching degree. SGP had weaker immunomodulatory activity than NGP in immunocompromised mice, as evidenced by less improved immunophenotypes involving body weight, immune organ indexes, white blood cells, lymphocyte cell populations and inflammation. The different immunomodulatory activities were accompanied by changes in the interaction between the polysaccharides and gut microbiota, in which SGP stimulated the growth of different bacteria but produced less SCFAs as compared to NGP. Fecal microbiota transplantation experiment suggested that gut microbiota played a central role in causing the weakened immunomodulatory activity in vivo. This study provides definite evidence that sulfur fumigation affects the chemistry and bioactivity of ginseng polysaccharides, thereby contributing to understanding how sulfur fumigation weakens the immunomodulatory activity of ginseng.
AB - Ginseng is widely regarded as a panacea in Oriental medicine mainly due to its immunomodulatory activity. We previously found that sulfur fumigation, a commonly used pesticidal and anti-bacterial processing practice, weakened the immunomodulatory activity of ginseng. However, if and how sulfur fumigation affects the polysaccharides in ginseng, the crucial components contributing to the immunomodulatory function, remain unknown. Here we report that polysaccharides extracted from sulfur-fumigated ginseng (SGP) presented different chemical properties with polysaccharides extracted with non-fumigated ginseng (NGP), particularly increased water extraction yield and decreased branching degree. SGP had weaker immunomodulatory activity than NGP in immunocompromised mice, as evidenced by less improved immunophenotypes involving body weight, immune organ indexes, white blood cells, lymphocyte cell populations and inflammation. The different immunomodulatory activities were accompanied by changes in the interaction between the polysaccharides and gut microbiota, in which SGP stimulated the growth of different bacteria but produced less SCFAs as compared to NGP. Fecal microbiota transplantation experiment suggested that gut microbiota played a central role in causing the weakened immunomodulatory activity in vivo. This study provides definite evidence that sulfur fumigation affects the chemistry and bioactivity of ginseng polysaccharides, thereby contributing to understanding how sulfur fumigation weakens the immunomodulatory activity of ginseng.
KW - Ginseng polysaccharides
KW - Immunomodulatory activity
KW - Sulfur fumigation
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/international-journal-of-biological-macromolecules/vol/247/suppl/C
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165227556&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125843
DO - 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125843
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0141-8130
VL - 247
JO - International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
JF - International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
M1 - 125843
ER -