Rheological properties of a polysaccharide from floral mushrooms cultivated in Huangshan Mountain

A polysaccharide fraction (FMPS) was isolated from floral mushrooms cultivated in Huangshan Mountain, and the rheological properties of FMPS in aqueous solutions were investigated. The FMPS solution showed shear-thinning behavior at 25°C. Dynamic viscoelastic tests revealed that G' and G″ exhibited strong dependences on the concentration and temperature. The FMPS/water system exhibited sol and weak gel behavior with the change of concentration and temperature. The exponent n of G'∼ω(n) and tan δ also exhibited strong dependences on the concentration and temperature. The gel point (cgel) of FMPS solution was 1.16×10(-2)g/mL at 15°C, and the Tgel of 1.4×10(-2)g/mL FMPS solution was 20.6°C. Dynamic frequency sweep measurements indicated that the FMPS gel system was stable in the selected range of frequency. The heating-cooling process proved that the sol-gel transition of FMPS in aqueous solutions was thermally reversible.