Composition and antioxidant activity of water-soluble polysaccharides from Tuber indicum

Crude water-soluble Chinese truffle Tuber indicum polysaccharide (TIP) was extracted from the fruiting bodies with water and then successively purified by DEAE-cellulose 52 and Sephadex G-100 column chromatography, yielding two major polysaccharide fractions: TIP1-1 and TIP2-1. High-performance gel permeation chromatography analysis showed that the average molecular sizes of TIP1-1 and TIP2-1 were approximately 1.75×10(4) Da and 5.73×10(3) Da, respectively. Monosaccharide component analysis by gas chromatography indicated that TIP1-1 was composed of mannose, glucose, galactose, and rhamannose in the respective molar ratio of 3.93:1.24:0.75:1.26 and that TIP2-1 contained mannose, glucose, and arabinose in the respective molar ratio of 5.27:1.44:0.43. The antioxidant activity analyses revealed that TIP1-1 and TIP2-1 possessed considerable antioxidant activity. Compared with TIP1-1, which has a higher molecular weight and contains no uronic acid, TIP2-1 exhibited a protective effect on PC12 cells injured by H(2)O(2) and a higher scavenging activity against free radicals. The relative effects of the lower molecular size, the presence of uronic acid, and the antioxidant activity of TIP2-1 appear to be significant. Accordingly, the Chinese truffle T. indicum might serve as an effective antioxidative healthcare food and source of natural antioxidants.