Rheological properties of a polysaccharide from floral mushrooms cultivated in Huangshan Mountain

A polysaccharide fraction (FMPS) was isolated from floral mushrooms cultivated in Huangshan Mountain, and the rheological properties of FMPS in aqueous solutions were investigated. The FMPS solution showed shear-thinning behavior at 25 degrees C. Dynamic viscoelastic tests revealed that G' and G '' exhibited strong dependences on the concentration and temperature. The FMPS/water system exhibited sol and weak gel behavior with the change of concentration and temperature. The exponent n of G similar to omega(n) and tan delta also exhibited strong dependences on the concentration and temperature. The gel point (c(gel)) of FMPS solution was 1.16 x 10(-2) g/mL at 15 degrees C, and the T-gel of 1.4 x 10-2 g/mL FMPS solution was 20.6 degrees C. Dynamic frequency sweep measurements indicated that the FMPS gel system was stable in the selected range of frequency. The heating-cooling process proved that the sol-gel transition of FMPS in aqueous solutions was thermally reversible. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.