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Updated: Feb 1, 2026

Determination of Glucan Chain Length Distribution of Glycogen Using the Fluorophore-Assisted Carbohydrate Electrophoresis FACE Method
Published on: March 31, 2022
Creation of Straight-Chain Cationic Polysaccharide-Based Bile Salt Sequestrants Made from Euglenoid β-1,3-Glucan as
Motonari Shibakami1, Kazuhiko Shibata2, Akira Akashi3
1Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Central 6th, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8566, Japan. moto.shibakami@aist.go.jp.
Purpose:
Straight-chain polysaccharides have a greater potential of selectively adsorbing hydrophobic bile salts than resin-based bile salt sequesters because of ionic and hydrophobic interactions; hence, they may possess antidiabetic activity. The feasibility of using cationic polysaccharides made from euglenoid β-1,3-glucan (referred to as paramylon) as potential antidiabetic agents was examined by using in vitro and animal experiments.
Methods:
Cationic straight-chain polysaccharides were synthesized from euglenoid polysaccharide and glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride. The effects of administration of the synthetic polysaccharide on metabolic syndrome-related indicators were examined in high-fat diet-induced obesity mice. The degree of adsorption of bile salts by the polysaccharides was evaluated using spectroscopic analysis.
Results:
Administration of the cationic paramylon derivatives significantly reduced body and mesenteric fat weight in high-fat diet-induced obesity mice. A noteworthy effect was that glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) secretion was approximately three times higher in diet-induced obesity mice receiving cationic paramylon derivatives than in those receiving cellulose as a control.
Conclusions:
Our results indicate that these cationic paramylon derivatives are potential GLP-1 secretagogues suitable for further study.
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