A review on the advances in the extraction methods and structure elucidation of Poria cocos polysaccharide and its pharmacological activities and drug carrier applications.

Poria cocos polysaccharide (PCP) is one of the main active components of Poria cocos that is extensively used in the world. PCP can be divided into intro-polysaccharides and exopolysaccharides. PCP is mainly composed of glucose, galactose and mannose. There are many methods to exact PCP, and methods can affect its yield. PCP and its derivatives exhibit diverse biological functions such as antitumour, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune-regulatory, hepatoprotective, etc. There is the potential application of PCP as drug carriers. The review provides a comprehensive summary of the latest extraction and purification methods of PCP, its chemistry, synthesis of PCP derivates, their pharmacological activities and their applications as drug carriers. This review provides comprehensive information on PCP, which can be used as the basis for further research on PCP and its derivates.