Extraction, characterization of polysaccharides from Morinda officinalis and its antioxidant activities

Morinda officinalis How (Rubiaceae) is widely used for medicinal purposes in China, Korea and Japan. Polysaccharides have also been determined and recently were shown to have protective effect against bone loss. A large number of polysaccharides present in the M. officinalis were successively extracted with hot water after preliminary treatments. The UV scan was used to analyse quality and purity of the polysaccharides from M. officinalis (MOP). Result indicated that had a better purity and quality and was free of proteins. HPLC showed that MOP mainly consisted of glucose (retention time, 8.691) and fructose (retention time, 9.245) with a molar ratio of 1.29:2.71. On the basis of analysis of chemical components, antioxidant activity of MOP was evaluated. The obtained results showed that MOP supplementation resulted in (a) increased antioxidant enzyme activities, and (b) decreased MDA level in rats.