The antioxidant activities and neuroprotective effect of polysaccharides from the starfish Asterias rollestoni.

After the starfish was defatted with isopropyl alcohol and ethanol, crude polysaccharide was extracted by 0.15 mol/L HCl. Anion exchange chromatography was performed to fractionate the sample into two fractions, SF-1 and SF-2. Chemical analysis showed that the major component of SF-1 was a glucan consisting of a backbone of 1→3 linked β-D-glucopyranose residues, and it had a minor glucan component containing a backbone of 1→3 linked α-D-glucopyranose residues. SF-2 was a mannoglucan sulfate. SF-2 displayed the highest antioxidant activity among the polysaccharides. Moreover, SF-1 and SF-2 exhibited neuroprotective activities in a neurotoxicity model of Parkinson's disease (PD).