Structural modification, biological activities and applications of plant polysaccharides
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Updated: Nov 8, 2026

Comparative Study on the Polysaccharide Contents and Antioxidant Activities of Hippophae rhamnoides subsp. sinensis and Hippophae gyantsensis
Published on: August 15, 2025
Qiuping Li1, Lina Lu1, Jia Li1
1Key Laboratory of Environment-Friendly Composite Materials of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Gansu Province Engineering Research Center for Biomass Functional Composite Materials, Key Laboratory for the Utilization of Environment-Friendly Composite Materials and Biomass in Universities of Gansu Province, Gansu Province Research Center for Basic Sciences of Surface and Interface Chemistry, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730124, China; College of Chemical Engineering, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730124, China.
Abstract:
Plant polysaccharides are natural biomacromolecules with abundant resources, versatile bioactivities, biodegradability and desirable safety profiles, which hold great application potential in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields. Nevertheless, not all plant polysaccharides exhibit satisfactory biological functions. Some polysaccharides possess weak or even negligible bioactivities owing to their unique structural features. Targeted structural modification approaches, including chemical derivatization, physical degradation and enzymatic modification, can systematically tune the weight-average molecular weight (Mw), charge density and chain conformation of polysaccharides. Such treatments yield substantial improvements in physicochemical properties and biological activities. This review systematically summarizes the extraction, isolation, monosaccharide profiles and structural tailoring strategies of plant polysaccharides published from 2020 to 2025. Furthermore, it reviews state-of-the-art structural characterization tools for native and modified polysaccharides, and discusses the molecular mechanisms governing bioactivity modulation and corresponding structure-activity patterns under diverse modification approaches. This work aims to provide theoretical support for the utilization of plant polysaccharides and the design of polysaccharide-based functional materials with defined biological performances.
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