Comparison Study on Polysaccharide Fractions from Laminaria japonica: Structural Characterization and Bile Acid Binding Capacity

Our previous study has suggested that the crude polysaccharide obtained from Laminaria japonica by acid assisted extraction (LP-A) have significant bile acid-binding capacity, which probably ascribed to its specific structure characterization. The relationship between structure characterization and bile acid-binding capacity of the purified LP-A fractions are still unknown. This paper conducted a comparison study on the structure characterization and bile acid-binding capacity of three LP-A fractions (LP-A4, LP-A6 and LP-A8). The results indicated that LP-A4, LP-A6 and LP-A8, characterized as mannoglucan, fucomannoglucan and fucogalactan, had significantly different structure characterization. Furthermore, the bile acid-binding capacity of LP-A8 was obviously higher than the other fractions, which may be attributed to its highly branched structure, abundant sulfate, fucose and galactose in chemical composition and denser interconnected macromolecule network in molecular morphology. This study provides scientific evidences in the potential utilization of LP-A8 as an attractive functional food supplement candidate for hyperlipidemia population.