Sulfated modification promotes the immunomodulatory bioactivities of Lyciumbarbarum polysaccharides in vitro.

Three kinds of purified Lyciumbarbarum polysaccharides (LBPSs), LBPS30, LBPS70 and total LBPS (LBPSt), were modified using chlorosulfonic acid-pyridine method based on the previous experiment, forming three sulfated LBPS (sLBPS), sLBPSt, sLBPS30 and sLBPS70 respectively. They were characterized by ultrasonic-acidic barium chromate spectrophotometry, infrared (FT-IR) and high performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC). The immunomodulatory activity of each kind of LBPSs and sLBPSs was further examined to determine the relationship between the structure and bioactivity, and the sLBPS with the highest activity was selected. The results showed that sulfate contents were 390.67, 542.75 and 291.71 mg/g respectively, with different molecular masses. The appearance of two new characteristic absorption bands at near 1230 and 855, 853 or 808 cm(-1) in FT-IR spectra revealed the success of sulfation. sLBPSt with high molecular weight and moderate sulfate content exhibited the best immunomodulatory activity by promoting lymphopoiesis and T lymphocyte differentiation as well as increasing IL-2, IL-6, IFN-γ and TFN-α production in vitro compared with the inartificial polysaccharides. These results indicated that sulfated modification could be considered as an effective way to enhance immune activity of LBPSs. Furthermore, sLBPSt showed the best performances and would be expected as a new source of immunopotentiator.