Chemical properties and antioxidant activity of exopolysaccharides from mycelial culture of Cordyceps sinensis fungus Cs-HK1

Exopolysaccharide (EPS) was produced in a mycelial liquid culture of the Cordyceps sinensis fungus, Cs-HK1, at a rate proportional to mycelial growth. The crude EPS isolated from the culture medium by ethanol precipitation contained 65–70% sugar and about 25% protein, suggesting that the EPS was composed of polysaccharide–protein complexes. It exhibited a wide molecular weight (MW) range from about 5 kDa to more than 200 kDa. The intrinsic viscosity as an index of average MW of EPS, increased during the period of rapid mycelial growth to 11.0 dL/g on day 5, and remained relatively stable between day 5 to day 8 (stationary growth period). Both infrared spectrometry of EPS and gas chromatography of acetylated EPS suggested that the EPS had a β-d-glucan backbone. The EPS showed moderate antioxidant activities with a Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity of 35–40 μmol Trolox/g and a ferric reducing ability of plasma of 50–52 μmol Fe(II)/g.