Antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of water soluble polysaccharide from Arachis hypogaea seeds

The water soluble crude polysaccharide (AHP) was obtained from the aqueous extracts of the Arachis hypogaea seeds through hot water extraction followed by ethanol precipitation. Antioxidant activities and inhibitory activities against the bacteria of AHP were investigated. AHP at 2 mg/mL was found to inhibit the formation of superoxide anion (55.33 %) and hydroxyl radicals (30.85 %), to scavenge the DPPH radical (57.43 %) and to chelate iron ion (27.83 %) in in vitro systems. AHP also exhibited the antibacterial activities. AHP at 12.5 mg/mL could inhibit the growth of the Gram-positive bacteria, implying that the Gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive to AHP than the Gram-negative bacteria. Polysaccharide with antioxidant and antibacterial activities in the "Chang Sheng Guo" further increased the nutritive values of peanuts as well as the natural health product potential.