School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.
Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnosis, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Aug 30;247:125843. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125843. Epub 2023 Jul 17.
Ginseng is widely regarded as a panacea in Oriental medicine mainly due to its immunomodulatory activity. We previously found that sulfur fumigation, a commonly used pesticidal and anti-bacterial processing practice, weakened the immunomodulatory activity of ginseng. However, if and how sulfur fumigation affects the polysaccharides in ginseng, the crucial components contributing to the immunomodulatory function, remain unknown. Here we report that polysaccharides extracted from sulfur-fumigated ginseng (SGP) presented different chemical properties with polysaccharides extracted with non-fumigated ginseng (NGP), particularly increased water extraction yield and decreased branching degree. SGP had weaker immunomodulatory activity than NGP in immunocompromised mice, as evidenced by less improved immunophenotypes involving body weight, immune organ indexes, white blood cells, lymphocyte cell populations and inflammation. The different immunomodulatory activities were accompanied by changes in the interaction between the polysaccharides and gut microbiota, in which SGP stimulated the growth of different bacteria but produced less SCFAs as compared to NGP. Fecal microbiota transplantation experiment suggested that gut microbiota played a central role in causing the weakened immunomodulatory activity in vivo. This study provides definite evidence that sulfur fumigation affects the chemistry and bioactivity of ginseng polysaccharides, thereby contributing to understanding how sulfur fumigation weakens the immunomodulatory activity of ginseng.
人参在东方医学中被广泛视为一种万能药，主要是因为其免疫调节活性。我们之前发现，硫磺熏蒸，一种常用的杀虫剂和抗菌处理方法，削弱了人参的免疫调节活性。然而，硫磺熏蒸是否以及如何影响人参中的多糖，这些是对免疫调节功能至关重要的成分，目前仍不清楚。在这里，我们报告称，从硫磺熏蒸的人参（SGP）中提取的多糖与从未经熏蒸的人参（NGP）中提取的多糖具有不同的化学性质，特别是水提收率增加，分支程度降低。SGP 在免疫功能低下的小鼠中的免疫调节活性比 NGP 弱，这表现在体重、免疫器官指数、白细胞、淋巴细胞群和炎症等免疫表型的改善较少。不同的免疫调节活性伴随着多糖与肠道微生物群之间相互作用的变化，其中 SGP 刺激了不同细菌的生长，但与 NGP 相比产生的 SCFAs 较少。粪便微生物群移植实验表明，肠道微生物群在体内引起免疫调节活性减弱方面起着核心作用。这项研究提供了确凿的证据，表明硫磺熏蒸会影响人参多糖的化学性质和生物活性，从而有助于理解硫磺熏蒸如何削弱人参的免疫调节活性。
