Planta Med. 2001 Jul; 67(5): 428-31.

Acidic polysaccharides from rhizomes of Atractylodes lancea as protective principle in Candida-lnfected mice.

Inagaki N, Komatsu Y, Sasaki H, Kiyohara H, Yamada H, Ishibashi H, Tansho S, Yamaguchi H, Abe S.

Kampo & Pharmacognosy Laboratory, Tsumura & Co., Ibaraki, Japan. inagaki_nobuyuki@mail.tsumura.co.jp

Prophylactic effects upon imunnosuppressed mice lethally infected by Candida albicans were examined in fractions prepared from a constituent herb of Juzen-taiho-to (TJ-48, Si-Quan-Da-Bu-Tang), rhizomes of Atractylodes lancea DC. The oral administration of water extract obtained from a residue after MeOH extraction of rhizomes significantly prolonged the survival period of the infected mice at a dose of 140 mg/kg/day compared with control mice, while the MeOH extract did not. In the crude polysaccharide fraction (F-2) obtained by EtOH precipitation of the water extract, a significant life-prolonging effect was observed by the administration of 70 mg/kg/day. F-2 was further fractionated, and the resulting strongly acidic polysaccharide fraction, F-2-2, had a protective effect at a dose of 17.5 mg/kg/day. This fraction mainly consisted of acidic pectic polysaccharides containing about 80% galacturonic acid. The protective activity of F-2-2 was lost by periodate oxidation, but not by protease digestion, suggesting that the polysaccharide component of F-2-2 plays a major role in the protective activity against Candida-infected mice.