Sulfation and biological activities of konjac glucomannan

The sulfation of konjac glucomannan and its anti-HIV and blood anticoagulant activities were investigated. Konjac glucomannan is a polysaccharide occurring naturally in konjac plant tubers and has high molecular weights. Solubility in water is very low, and the aqueous solutions at low concentrations have high viscosity. Before sulfation, hydrolysis by diluted sulfuric acid was carried out to decrease the molecular weights of M¯n=19.2 × 10(4)-0.2 × 10(4). Sulfation with piperidine-N-sulfonic acid or SO3-pyridine complex gave sulfated konjac glucomannans with molecular weights of M¯n=1.0 × 10(4)-0.4 × 10(4) and degrees of sulfation (DS) of 1.3-1.4. It was found that the sulfated konjac glucomannans had potent anti-HIV activity at a 50% effective concentration, (EC50) of 1.2-1.3 μg/ml, which was almost as high as that of an AIDS drug, ddC, whose EC50=3.2 μg/ml, and moderate blood anticoagulant activity, AA=0.8-22.7 units/mg, compared to those of standard sulfated polysaccharides, curdlan (10 units/mg) and dextran (22.7 units/mg) sulfates. Structural analysis of sulfated konjac glucomannans with negatively charged sulfated groups was performed by high resolution NMR, and the interaction between poly-l-lysine with positively charged amino groups as a model compound of proteins and peptides was measured by surface plasmon resonance measurement, suggesting that the sulfated konjac glucomannans had a high binding stability on immobilized poly-l-lysine. The binding of sulfated konjac glucomannan was concentration-dependent, and the biological activity of the sulfated konjac glucomannans may be due to electrostatic interaction between the sulfate and amino groups.