School of Perfume and Aroma Technology, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai 201418, China.
Guangxi Key Laboratory of Polysaccharide Materials and Modification, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University for Nationalities, Nanning 530008, China.
Molecules. 2019 Dec 23;25(1):57. doi: 10.3390/molecules25010057.
β-Glucan exhibits many biological activities and functions such as stimulation of the immune system and anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-infective, anti-viral, anti-tumor, anti-oxidant, anti-coagulant, cholesterol-lowering, radio protective, and wound healing effects. It has a wide variety of uses in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and chemical industries as well as in food processing units. However, due to its dense triple helix structure, formed by the interaction of polyhydroxy groups in the β-d-glucan molecule, it features poor solubility, which not only constrains its applications, but also inhibits its physiological function in vivo. One aim is to expand the applications for modified β-glucan with potential to prevent disease, various therapeutic purposes and as health-improving ingredients in functional foods and cosmetics. This review introduces the major modification methods required to understand the bioactivity of β-glucan and critically provides a literature survey on the structural features of this molecule and reported biological activity. We also discuss a new method to create novel opportunities to exploit maximally various properties of β-glucan, namely ultrasound-assisted enzymatic modification.
β-葡聚糖具有多种生物活性和功能,如刺激免疫系统、抗炎、抗微生物、抗感染、抗病毒、抗肿瘤、抗氧化、抗凝血、降胆固醇、放射保护和伤口愈合作用。它在制药、化妆品和化学工业以及食品加工单位中有广泛的用途。然而,由于其由β-葡聚糖分子中的多羟基相互作用形成的密集的三重螺旋结构,它的溶解度很差,这不仅限制了它的应用,也抑制了它在体内的生理功能。一个目标是扩大具有预防疾病、各种治疗用途以及作为功能性食品和化妆品中改善健康成分的改性β-葡聚糖的应用。本文介绍了理解β-葡聚糖生物活性所需的主要修饰方法,并批判性地提供了关于该分子的结构特征和报道的生物活性的文献综述。我们还讨论了一种利用超声辅助酶法修饰来创造利用β-葡聚糖各种特性的新机会的新方法。