Studies on Polysaccharides from Angelica acutiloba

Abstract

Water-soluble crude polysaccharide (AR-1) prepared from the root of Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa (Japanese name = Yamato Tohki) was fractionated into three polysaccharide fractions, AR-2, AR-3 and AR-4 by the addition of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The major polysaccharide fraction, AR-2, consisted of a pectic acid-like molecule, and all fractions contained arabinose, galactose and glucose as the major neutral sugars. AR-4 showed the highest anti-complementary activity and interferon inducing activity, but mitogenic activity was shown only in the AR-1. When AR-4 was further fractionated by anion-exchange chromatography, the anti-complementary and interferon inducing activities were observed in the different polysaccharide subfractions. These results indicate that both activities are caused by different polysaccharide molecules and that the mitogenic activity is due to a minor polysaccharide or other component rather than to the major polysaccharides.