Promotion proliferation effect of a polysaccharide from Aloe barbadensis Miller on human fibroblasts in vitro.

A polysaccharide fraction was isolated from fresh Aloe barbadensis Miller leaves, which can promote the wound healing of the superficial II scald model mice. The monosaccharide composition and linkage determination were investigated by methylation and GC-MS, acetylation and GC, 13C NMR and DEPT. The results show that its glycosyl components contain D-glucose, D-galactose, D-xylose in a molar ratio of 5:5:1, and the API consists of a backbone of -->2)-alpha-D-Galp-(1-->2)-alpha-D-Glcp-(1-->, having a branch of alpha-D-xylofuranosyl residue that is (1-->3) linkage at O-3 of alpha-D-galactopyranosyl residue. It was found that the API could enhance proliferation of the human fibroblasts in vitro. The mechanisms of promotion proliferation were studied preliminarily.