Antioxidant activity and physicochemical properties of an acidic polysaccharide from Morinda officinalis

An acidic polysaccharide APMO was isolated from Morinda officinalis by alkaline solvent extraction followed by fractionation treatments. Its antioxidant activities were evaluated by various methods in vitro, APMO presented excellent capability in scavenging DPPH radicals, chelating ferrous ions and inhibiting hemolysis of rats erythrocyte induced by H2O2, which was stronger than those of Vc at high concentration. Moreover, APMO displayed moderate reducing power. Physicochemical characteristics of APMO were observed by a combination of chemical and instrumental analysis. APMO predominantly consisted of galacturonic acid, arabinose and galactose. Galacturonic acid was assigned to be 1 → 4 glycosyl linkage in the skeleton of APMO.