Comparison of antitumor activities of different polysaccharide fractions from the stems of Dendrobium nobile Lindl

The antitumor activities of extracted polysaccharide fractions from the stems of Dendrobium nobile Lindl were investigated. Polysaccharides were sequentially extracted from the stems of D. nobile to obtain three fractions, i.e. water extract fraction (DNP-W), 5% NaOH extract fraction (DNP-OH) and 5% HCl extract fraction (DNP-H). Further the DNP-W was isolated to give six sub-fractions (DNP-W1, DNP-W2, DNP-W3, DNP-W4, DNP-W5 and DNP-W6) by anion-exchange chromatography. The monosaccharide profile, protein content, uronic acid content, total carbohydrate content, viscosity and molecular weight of nine polysaccharide fractions were analyzed. Both the in vivo and in vitro antitumor activities of nine polysaccharide fractions were evaluated and compared. Results indicated that DNP-W1 and DNP-W3 exhibited high antitumor activities against Sarcoma 180 in vivo and HL-60 in vitro. The results suggested that DNP-W1 and DNP-W3 could be considered as an effective natural antitumor source.