Characterization of a polysaccharide with antioxidant and anti-cervical cancer potentials from the corn silk cultivated in Jilin province.

Corn silk polysaccharides (CSPs) were extracted from the corn silk cultivated in Jilin province, China, where is one of the golden corn belts worldwide. Three fractions (CSP-1, CSP-2 and CSP-3) were obtained by DEAE-52 cellulose and the former two fractions were further purified by Sephadex G-150 column chromatography to obtain CSP-S-1 and CSP-S-2. The molecular weights of CSP-S-1 and CSP-S-2 were calculated to be 586 kDa and 813 kDa, respectively. CSP-S-1 was composed of galactose, arabinose, xylose and rhamnose at a molar ratio of 4.16:1.00:1.01:6.32 and CSP-S-2 was composed of galactose, arabinose, glucose and rhamnose at a molar ratio of 8.71:3.58:0.169:1.00. CSP-S-2 outperformed CSP-S-1 in scavenging DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radicals, and significantly inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells. IR and NMR analysis indicated that CSP-S-2 was pyranose. CSP-S-2 consisted of 1 → 4 and 1 → 6 linkages and exhibited a triple helix configuration. In summary, CSP-S-2 possesses high potential to be developed as a novel antioxidant and anti-cervical cancer agent.