Polysaccharides usually consist of slightly modified repeating units. Because of different structures, polysaccharide polymers and monosaccharide molecules that make up it have different properties, which may be amorphous or even insoluble in water.
The role of polysaccharide:
1. immunomodulation: The polysaccharide (Agr/cus) extracted from the fruiting body of Agaricus blazei Murill has immunosuppressive effect, which can reduce the side effects of our commonly used immunosuppressants, such as cytotoxicity, reducing the body's anti-infection ability and inhibiting the reproduction of bone marrow hematopoietic cells. The polysaccharide can be made into oral or injectable medicine or functional food.
2. Anti-virus and Anti-cancer: It is reported that a large number of water-soluble substances with anti-cancer activity can be isolated from the culture of Agaricus blazei Murill (Agr/cus), including acidic polysaccharides, water-soluble neutral polysaccharides and water-soluble proteoglycans isolated from the fruiting body of Agaricus blazei Murill.
3. Emulsification: Keiichi et al. extracted polysaccharide with emulsifying effect from the cell wall of Festuca (Gramineae) plants such as barley, which can be widely used as emulsifier in industrial production, safe and pollution-free.
4. Beauty: Honda Yasuki and others obtained an acidic heteropolysaccharide with good moisturizing and anti-wrinkle effect from Primula plants.
5. Lowering blood sugar: Ukai Shigeo et al. extracted acidic polysaccharide with hypoglycemic effect from the fruiting body or mycelium of a tremella fuciformis. FujiiMakoto et al. extracted a kind of seaweed polysaccharide which can reduce blood sugar level from seaweed, and made it into health food with fucoidan as the main component, which can significantly improve people's immune function.
Extended data polysaccharide is an important biopolymer, which has the function of storing energy and composing structure in organisms. Starch (including amylose and amylopectin) is a polymer of glucose, which is used to store energy in plants. Animals store energy in glycogen (also known as animal starch). Glycogen is also polymerized from glucose, but there are more branches in the molecule. Animals are more active, so they use glycogen with faster metabolism.
Cellulose and chitin are two kinds of polysaccharides that constitute biological structure. Cellulose constitutes the cell wall of plants and is the most abundant organic molecule on the earth. Cellulose is widely used, not only in paper industry and textile industry, but also as a raw material for producing rayon, cellulose acetate, celluloid and nitrocellulose. The structure of chitin is similar to cellulose, but the branched chain contains nitrogen, so its strength is higher. It exists in the exoskeleton of arthropods and the cell wall of fungi. Chitin also has many functions, for example, it can be used as surgical suture.
Some polysaccharides, such as cellulose and chitin, can form plant skeletons. Polysaccharides such as starch and glycogen can be used as biological energy storage materials. Heteropolysaccharide, such as glucosamine, exists in chitin and is the main component of insect and arthropod shells.
References:
Baidu encyclopedia-polysaccharide