Antioxidant and immunomodulatory activities of polysaccharides from the roots of Sanguisorba officinalis

The roots of Sanguisorba officinalis are used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of diseases such as inflammation and internal haemorrhage. Several scientific investigations involving extraction and pharmacological studies of terpenoids and triterpenoid glycosides from this herb have been carried out. However, little is known regarding the immunomodulatory and antioxidant properties of polysaccharides from S. officinalis. Hence the polysaccharides from this herb have been investigated here. The hot water extract of S. officinalis has been fractionated using size-exclusion chromatography to obtain four polysaccharide fractions designated as SOP-1, SOP-2, SOP-3 and SOP-4. The range of molecular masses of these fractions were from 280 Da to 2000 kDa, and their sugar compositions consisted mainly of fructose, glucose, xylose, arabinose, and rhamnose. The antioxidant activities of the crude polysaccharide fractions were evaluated in a biological assay using Saccharomyces cerevisiae, whereas the radical scavenging activity was measured using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. Analysis of the immunomodulatory activities of these polysaccharide fractions were measured by using mouse macrophages. Most of the polysaccharide fractions have stimulated the production of nitric oxide and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and also displayed antioxidant activities. These results suggest that the roots of S. officinalis are likely to have therapeutic value for the treatment of cancer.