Pre-protective effect of polysaccharides purified from Hericium erinaceus against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats

The beta-glucan H6PC20 (Mw: 2390 kDa) and alpha-heteropolysaccharide HPB-3 (Mw: 15 kDa) were purified from the fruiting body of Hericium erinaceus according to the previous methods. Their gastroprotective activities and cor-responding structure-activity relationship were studied in the ethanol-induced gastric ulcer model of rats. After intragastric administrated with H6PC20 and HPB-3 for 14 days, macroscopic and histological evaluation of gastric mucosa was improved significantly. The defense and repair factors (EGF, bFGF and PGE2) were increased, mean-while, the inflammatory cytokines (IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha) and MDA were reduced. These results indicated that H6PC20 and HPB-3 presented gastroprotective activities with the mechanism of activating repair and defense system, decreasing the inflammatory response and alleviating the oxidative injury. Furthermore, the structure -activity relationship showed that the macromolecular beta-glucan was better for repair and defense system, while the low weight molecular alpha-heteropolysaccharide focused on the anti-inflammatory effect. The polysac-charides purified from H. erinaceus can be developed as a potential gastroprotective ingredient for applications in pharmaceutical field. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.