The Preparation and Potential Bioactivities of Modified Pectins: A Review

Pectins are complex polysaccharides that are widely found in plant cells and have a variety of bioactivities. However, the high molecular weights (Mw) and complex structures of natural pectins mean that they are difficult for organisms to absorb and utilize, limiting their beneficial effects. The modification of pectins is considered to be an effective method for improving the structural characteristics and promoting the bioactivities of pectins, and even adding new bioactivities to natural pectins. This article reviews the modification methods, including chemical, physical, and enzymatic methods, for natural pectins from the perspective of their basic information, influencing factors, and product identification. Furthermore, the changes caused by modifications to the bioactivities of pectins are elucidated, including their anti-coagulant, anti-oxidant, anti-tumor, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, and anti-bacterial activities and the ability to regulate the intestinal environment. Finally, suggestions and perspectives regarding the development of pectin modification are provided.


Introduction
Pectins are natural polysaccharides that are widely distributed in plants. According to their different structures, researchers divide pectins into homogalacturonan (HG), rhamnogalacturonan I (RG-I), rhamnogalacturonan II (RG-II), xylogalacturonan (XGA), and apiogalacturonan (AGA). The first three domains are relatively widespread, while the last two domains are found only in specific plants [1]. Natural pectins have been proven to have a variety of bioactivities. For example, natural citrus pectins prepared under alkali and high-pressure conditions exhibit potential prebiotic properties [2,3], natural acid-extraction okra pectin shows excellent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities [4,5], and natural hot-water-extraction pumpkin pectins possess immunomodulatory and hypoglycemic activities [6][7][8][9]. However, with the increasing depth of research, natural pectins are being reported to exhibit disadvantages in some specific areas.  suggested that the absorption in vivo is challenging for macromolecules [10], which means the high molecular weights (M w ) and complex structures of natural pectins will limit their bioavailability. To overcome these problems, researchers focus more on the modification of pectin structures and properties.
The modification of pectins refers to the introduction of new functional groups into natural pectins or the implementation of changes to their M w and molecular structures, which can significantly affect their properties. Researchers have found that modified pectins may exhibit preferable bioactivities compared to natural pectins. For example, Chaouch et al. (2018) found that the Opuntia ficus indica cladodes pectin possessed a new anti-coagulant activity after sulfation by sulfur trioxide-N,N-dimethylformamide (SO 3 -DMF) complex [11].   Methyl ester groups can not only be introduced into pectins but also be removed from them, which is called de-methyl esterification. The removal process is mainly completed by an alkali, acid, amidation reagent, and enzymatically, and their mechanisms are shown in Table 1. Alkali hydrolysis is relatively convenient and fast and is the most commonly used method for de-methyl esterification. However, the β-elimination reaction of polygalacturonic acid chains occurs simultaneously with de-methyl esterification, causing the degradation of pectins. Therefore, researchers generally perform the reaction at lower temperatures to reduce degradation [21,34,35]. Compared to alkali hydrolysis, acid hydrolysis results in great damage to the neutral sugar side chains of the RG-I domain, and the strict reaction conditions result in unstable yields and properties of the modified products, so it is not selected by most researchers. Modified low-methoxyl pectins (LMP) obtained by amidation treatment are called amidated low-methoxyl pectins (ALMP), but they will be limited by the toxicity of the amidation reagent [20,29]. Enzymatic treatment can remove the methyl ester groups without depolymerization, but the expensive enzymes render it difficult to industrialize this method [36,37]. The use of enzymes is described in detail in Section 4.1.1. Table 1. Summary of the methods for chemical and physical modifications of pectins.

Modification Type Modification Method Mechanism/Basic Point Main Influence Factor
Ref.

Chemical modification
Methyl esterification Introduce -CH 3 into the -OH on O-6 of GalpA by methanol under the catalysis of acid Acid type and concentration; reaction temperature and time [20,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34] De-methyl esterification Remove -CH 3 from GalpA by alkali, acid, amidation regent, and enzyme. Alkali method: remove -CH 3 under the catalysis of alkali to generate carboxylate and methanol; acid method: remove -CH 3 under high temperatures and strong acid conditions; amidation treatment: ammonolyze the methyl ester groups by the ammonia in methanol in alkali conditions; enzyme method: hydrolyze the methyl ester groups by pectin methylesterase The type and concentration of alkali, acid, amidation regent, and enzyme; reaction temperature, pH value, and time [20,29,[34][35][36][37] Acetylation Introduce acetyl into the -OH on O-2 and O-3 of GalpA by acetylation reagents The type of reaction solvent and catalyst; the type and concentration of acetylation reagent; reaction temperature and time [23,24,26] Sulfation Replace the -OH of GalpA with the sulfate groups by sulfation reagents The type and concentration of sulfation reagents; reaction temperature and time [20,[31][32][33][38][39][40][41] Chemical modification Selenylation Replace the -OH of GalpA with selenium functional groups with inorganic selenium The concentration of inorganic selenium; reaction temperature and time [22,42,43] Acid degradation Depolymerize pectin by using the tolerance differences between the different glycosidic bonds to acids; tolerance order: the glycosidic bonds between GalpA > the glycosidic bonds between GalpA and Rhap > the glycosidic bonds between neutral sugars Acid type and concentration; reaction temperature and time [44][45][46][47][48][49] Alkali degradation β-elimination reaction: the process of cleaving C-O bonds at the β-position which results from the removal of the hydrogen atoms on C-5 of GalpA and the formation of the double bond between C-4 and C-5 Reaction temperature, pH value, and time; cations in the reaction system [50][51][52][53]

Oxidative degradation
Fenton reaction: the oxidizing groups (·OH and ·O 2 − ) generated from the decomposition of H 2 O 2 under catalysis will combine with the hydrogen atoms attached to the carbon atoms of pectins and then attack the glycosidic bonds Fe 2+ concentration (for metal Fenton reaction); physical process parameters (for non-metal Fenton reaction); H 2 O 2 concentration; reaction temperature and time [54][55][56][57][58][59] Physical modification

Ultrasound modification
The implosion of cavitation bubbles produced by ultrasonic power generates high shear forces, which can break the glycosidic bonds; the collapse of the cavitation bubbles promotes the dissociation of water molecules to produce -OH and -H radicals and the formation of H 2 O 2 to attack the glycosidic bonds US intensity/frequency; duty cycle; reaction temperature, pH value, and time [15,16,44,58,[60][61][62][63][64] High-pressure modification HHP transfers pressure by liquid medium (usually water) to depolymerize pectin; HPH utilizes the forces of high-velocity impact, high-frequency vibration, cavitation, high shear stress, instantaneous pressure drop, and high pressure generated by fluid flowing through a small gap (a few hundred micrometers) in a short period of time (less than 5 s) to depolymerize pectin DM is used to evaluate the modification degree of pectins, which is defined as the ratio of methyl-esterified GalpA to total GalpA. According to the DM, pectins are divided into HMP (DM ≥ 50%) and LMP (DM < 50%) [34]. Titration is a widely used method for determining DM and is based on the formula "DM = V 2 /(V 1 + V 2 ) × 100%" (V 1 and V 2 are the volumes of alkaline solution for the first and second titration, respectively) [21,83,84]. In addition, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), gas chromatography (GC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry can also be applied to determine DM [27,34,85,86].

Acetylation
Acetylation uses acetylation reagents to introduce acetyl into the -OH present on the O-2 and O-3 of GalpA in alkaline solutions. As shown in Table 1, there are three main factors affecting acetylation, namely the reaction solvents, acetylation reagents, and catalysts. The reaction solvent refers to the organic solvents used to disperse pectins, such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), formamide (FA), methanol, and dimethylacetamide (DMAc). Acetylation reagents include acetic acid (AcOH) and acetic anhydride (Ac 2 O), while catalysts include Pyr, methylimidazole, N-bromosuccinimide (NBS), and 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) [23,24,26]. Renear et al. (1999) tested the acetylation efficiency of DMSO-Nmethylimidazole, DMSO-Pyr, and FA-Pyr systems and found that the FA-Pyr system could reach a higher degree of acetylation at the highest reaction rate [26]. In addition to the three abovementioned factors, acetylation is also generally proportional to the reaction temperature and time.
Similar to the DM, the degree of acetylation (DAc) is also used to evaluate the modification degree of pectins.

Sulfation
In recent years, sulfation has been increasingly applied to modify neutral polysaccharides rather than pectins. Sulfation uses sulfation reagents to replace the -OH of GalpA with the sulfate groups. The commonly used sulfation reagents are CSA, H 2 SO 4 , sulfonylchloride, and sodium amine trisulfate. Organic solvents such as Pyr, FA, DMSO, trimethylamine, and toluene are usually used as media to relieve the harshness of these acidic reagents in regard to the pectins [20,32,38]. The degree of sulfation (DS) is generally proportional to the concentration of sulfation reagents and the reaction temperature and time. Although pectins modified by sulfation tend to exhibit lower M w compared to natural pectins because of their degradation in the acidic conditions, excessively strict reaction conditions will result in severe degradation of the pectins, which is undesirable [31][32][33][39][40][41].
FT-IR and NMR spectra are often used to confirm whether the sulfation is successful. Generally, successfully sulfated pectins will show two new absorption peaks at around 810-830 cm −1 and 1230-1260 cm −1 in the FT-IR spectrum, which, respectively, represent the C-O-S and S=O bonds of the sulfate groups. In addition, the sulfation position of pectin can be determined according to the chemical shift of the signals in the NMR spectrum, which will generally be the O-2, O-3, and O-6 of GalpA [33,40]. The DS is usually calculated by the formula "DS = (1.62 × S%)/(32 − 1.02 × S%) " or "DS = (1.62 × S%)/(32 − 0.8 × S%) (the former regards -SO 3 Na as the substituent, while the latter regards -SO 3 H as the substituent) after the determination of the sulfate content (S%) by the barium chloride gelatin method [24].

Selenylation
Since natural selenylated pectins are rare, artificial selenylated pectins have been drawing attention for the last eight years. As shown in Figure 1E, selenylation refers to a reaction in which the -OH of GalpA is replaced with selenium functional groups by inorganic selenium, such as selenous acid, selenite, and selenium oxychloride in acidic media, including nitric acid and glacial acetic acid [22,42,43]. During selenization, inorganic selenium reacts preferentially with the hemiacetal hydroxyl (C6-OH), and this selenium mainly exists in the modified pectin in the form of selenium esters [87]. Selenylated pectins generally possess higher M w than natural pectins because of the introduction of selenium. For example, Lee et al. (2017) and Tao et al. (2022) reported that the M w of nature pectins increased by approximately 17-33% after selenylation [88,89]. Similar to other modification methods, selenylation is also proportional to the concentration of inorganic selenium, as well as reaction temperature and time before the modification achieves saturation [42].
FT-IR and NMR spectra are also used to confirm whether the selenylation is successful. Selenylated pectins should possess peaks located at around 600-700 cm −1 and 850-900 cm −1 in the FT-IR spectrum, which indicate the C-O-Se and Se=O bonds, respectively [42]. For the NMR spectrum, the 3.0-4.0 ppm signal intensities of selenylated pectins in the 1 H-NMR spectrum may be weakened by changes in the proton chemical environment caused by the substitutions of selenium-containing groups [89]. In addition, selenylated pectins also tend to show a new peak at approximately 62-67 ppm in the 13 C-NMR spectrum, which is related to the substitution of the O-6 position [43,88].

Degradation of Pectins
Due to the complex structures and high M w of natural pectins, most of them cannot be degraded in the intestine, absorbed into the blood, or taken in by cells. It is well-known that the rate of cellular uptake of bioactive substances is closely related to their size. Generally, bioactive substances with smaller sizes or lower M w are more easily taken in and thus better exhibit their bioactivities [10]. Therefore, lowering the M w and simplifying the complex structures of pectins by degradation are conducive to the effective use of pectins in some application areas. In addition to the chemical degradation method mentioned in this section, the physical and enzymatic modifications mentioned in the following sections are also based on the degradation of pectins.

Acid Degradation
Acid treatment depolymerizes pectins by using differences in tolerance between different glycosidic bonds to acids. As the mechanism shown in Table 1, the neutral sugar side chains of pectins are attacked first and degraded into mono-or oligosaccharides, and then the backbones are attacked in acidic environments. However, polygalacturonic acid composed of α-(1→4)-D-GalA has excellent tolerance to acid and can hardly be cleaved [44][45][46].
The degree of acid degradation is proportional to the reaction temperature and time. In addition, it is also influenced by acid type and concentration. HCl, H 2 SO 4 , and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) are commonly used to degrade pectin. Garna et al. (2006) degraded pectins using the three abovementioned acids and found that TFA caused less damage to polygalacturonic acid than HCl and H 2 SO 4 [47]. In fact, TFA is often used to remove the neutral sugar side chains of pectins, especially those composed of arabinose (Ara).  and Zhang et al. (2012) continuously degraded RG-I-type pectin with 0.1 M TFA, and the results showed that with the increasing reaction time, Ara could be completely removed, while galactose (Gal) was almost unaffected by the acid environment [48,49]. The acid degradation of pectins has the advantages of high reaction rates (especially under heated conditions) and complete reaction degrees, but its reaction conditions are severe and the products have high monosaccharide contents, which is unfavorable for their subsequent study.

Alkali Degradation
Alkali treatment depolymerizes pectins by taking advantage of the β-elimination reaction of polygalacturonic acid in alkaline environments, and the related mechanism is shown in Table 1. The β-elimination is more likely to occur on the glycosidic bonds between the esterified GalpA. Therefore, HMP is more subject to β-elimination than LMP [90].
Similar to acid degradation, the degree of β-elimination reaction is also proportional to the reaction temperature and time.  degraded pectin with alkali solutions at 25 • C and 3 • C, respectively, and the results showed that the former could obtain modified products with lower M w and GalA contents [51]. The β-elimination reaction is also influenced by the pH values and cations of the reaction systems. Kirtchev et al. (1989) suggested that not only β-elimination but also the demethylation reaction, which is mutually inhibited in conjunction with it, will occur in alkaline environments [52]. Specifically, β-elimination reaction will be dominant in reaction systems with lower pH values; otherwise, de-methyl esterification will be dominant. Regarding cations, Sajjaanantakul et al. (1993) found that the increase in the cation concentration could promote the β-elimination reaction, and the promoting effect of divalent cations is stronger than that of monovalent cations [53].

Oxidative Degradation
The oxidative degradation of pectin is based on a Fenton reaction. Oxidizing groups, such as hydroxyl radicals (·OH) and superoxide anion radicals (·O 2 − ), can combine with the hydrogen atoms attached to the carbon atoms and then attack the glycosidic bonds [54].
The metal Fenton reaction takes advantage of metals or their oxides, especially Fe 2+ , as catalysts to catalyze the generation of oxidizing radicals from H 2 O 2 . Zhi et al. (2017) and Yeung et al. (2021) degraded pectin with 96-98% M w loss using the Fe 2+ -H 2 O 2 system over 1-2 h, and the latter authors believed that these degradations occurred mainly in the HG domain and the neutral sugar side chains of the RG-I domain [55,56]. The degree of the metal Fenton reaction is generally proportional to the reaction temperature and time, as well as the Fe 2+ and H 2 O 2 concentrations when the reaction has not reached saturation. Although these metals and their oxides were discovered at an early stage of research and have been used as catalysts for Fenton oxidation systems, they are difficult to separate after the reaction, which is unfavorable for polymers that need to be used in food systems.
The non-metal Fenton reaction takes advantage of physical techniques such as ultraviolet (UV) light, ultrasound (US), and microwaves, instead of metal, as catalysts to generate oxidizing radicals without any separation process after the reaction.  [57][58][59]. In addition to the influence of the H 2 O 2 concentration, reaction temperature, and time, the non-metal Fenton reaction is also affected by the physical parameters of the process, such as the ultrasonic intensity and microwave power. Notably, a higher ultrasonic intensity does lead to a better degradation effect, but an excessive ultrasonic intensity may generate more cavitation bubbles, which pose obstacles to energy transfer, and result in a decrease in the degradation efficiency [58].
Based on the above analyses, it is apparent that the glycosidic bonds between different monosaccharides exhibit different levels of sensitivity to the environment. As described in Section 2.2.1, the glycosidic bonds between neutral sugars are most sensitive in acidic environments, while the glycosidic bonds between GalpA are highly tolerant toward acids. However, in oxidative degradation, the HG domain is preferentially attacked by oxidizing radicals, and the bonds between neutral sugars are almost unaffected in the initial degradation stage. Therefore, oxidative degradation is often used to prepare pectins rich in the RG-I domain [55,[57][58][59].

Physical Modification of Pectins
Although chemical modification is widely used because of its low cost and wide availability, it requires high-quality anti-corrosion equipment and may cause serious environmental pollution. In contrast, physical modification requires little or no chemical reagents, which can avoid additional purification processes, and has the advantages of simplicity, speed, and economy. However, due to mechanical limitations, physical modification is difficult to implement in industrial production and it cannot degrade pectins selectively [14,15,31]. Physical modification mainly consists of ultrasound, high-pressure, subcritical water, and irradiation modifications.

Ultrasound Modification
Ultrasound (US) treatment depolymerizes pectins by using the chemical and physical (or mechanical) effects induced by ultrasonic cavitation. Compared with other physical modification methods, ultrasound treatment can better control the degree of pectin depolymerization and has a shorter processing time. In the initial stage of ultrasonic power, cavitation bubbles are formed, resulting in compression and expansion. As the cavitation bubbles implode, high shear forces are generated, which can break the glycosidic bonds in the pectins, a process that is also known as a physical (or mechanical) effect. In addition, the collapse of the cavitation bubbles promotes the dissociation of water molecules to produce -OH and -H radicals and the formation of H 2 O 2 to attack the glycosidic bonds, which is a chemical effect [15,54,60,61]. Notably, ultrasound modification is more effective for the side chains of pectins rather than the backbones because the latter is more resistant to US [91].
Ultrasound modification is mainly affected by the US intensity/frequency, duty cycle, reaction temperature, time, and pH value. The degree of ultrasound modification is proportional to the first four factors in most cases [16,58,[62][63][64]. As for the reaction pH value, Yan et al. (2020) suggested that as the pH value of the reaction system increased (4.0 to 10.0), some of the GalpA in pectins were converted into -COO − , which enhanced the electrostatic repulsion between the pectin molecules and transformed them into more easily attackable "stretch" structures [91].
Although ultrasound modification is considered to be one of the most effective "green" degradation techniques, the attenuation of energy transmission under prolonged or highintensity ultrasonic fields limits the degradation of pectins by US. Therefore, researchers combine ultrasound with other modification methods to improve the degradation degree of pectin, such as US-assisted oxidative (described in Section 2.2.3), high-pressure, and enzymatic modifications. For example, Larsen et al. (2021) modified pectin by the US-assisted enzymatic method. They found that, on the one hand, US could depolymerize pectins into oligomers with medium M w and fewer branches, which were more easily attacked by enzymes. On the other hand, it improved the enzyme activities of polygalacturonase and pectin lyase [92]. In addition, Ma et al. (2016) combined US and enzyme to modify pectin, and the results suggested that, compared with the degradation with enzyme only, the addition of ultrasound could significantly reduce the DM but retain the DAc of pectin [93].

High-Pressure Modification
High-pressure modification mainly consists of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and high-pressure homogenization (HPH) [15]. As shown in Table 1, HHP and HPH depolymerize pectins by pressure transferred through the liquid medium and the forces generated by fluid flowing through a small gap in a short period of time [65]. Furthermore, there is another new processing method based on HPH, namely dynamic high-pressure microfluidization (DHPM), which combines conveying, pressurizing, mixing, and ultra-micro-crushing actions and can generate a huge pressure to change the structure of polymers in a short time [94,95].
High-pressure treatment mainly acts on the methyl ester groups (related to the DM) and side chains of pectins. There are some controversies related to the changes in the DM during high-pressure modification. Some research has suggested that high-pressure treatment cannot significantly influence the DM of pectin [66,96], while others believe that the mechanical force generated by the high pressure could cleave the C-O bonds of the -COO − and lower the DM [97].  [67,100]. A possible explanation for these controversies is that differences in the sources and structures of pectins can affect the results of high-pressure modification. The pectin side chains appear to be more easily cleaved by high pressure than the backbones [67,101,102]. Xie et al. (2018) found no significant changes in the GalA content and Rha/GalA ratio of pectin after highpressure treatment, which represented the retention of pectin backbones. However, they also noticed a decrease in the ratio of (Ara + Gal)/Rha, which reflected the degradation of the pectin side chains [65]. Similar results were also observed in the research of Zhong et al. (2021) [67].
It is worth noting that since the high-pressure process can stabilize or even activate some enzymes, it is also often used to assist enzymes in degrading pectin [103]. Ma et al. (2013) used HHP-assisted endo-polygalacturonase to prepare pectin oligosaccharides, and the results showed that the oligosaccharide yields of the combined process at 300 MPa were significantly higher than those of the conventional enzymatic method [104]. Wan et al.
(2019) used HHP-assisted pectin methylesterase to perform de-methyl esterification and found that the combined process required only one-tenth of the time required using the conventional enzymatic method to obtain a similar effect [103].
High-pressure modification is mostly affected by process pressure. Generally, the higher the pressure is, the greater the degradation of pectin will be [66], but there are also studies that have arrived at the contrary conclusion. Zhong et al. (2021) found that the M w of pectins increased with increasing pressure when pectin was degraded by high-pressure modification in the range of 0.1-400 MPa, and it did not decrease until the pressure increased to 600 MPa [67]. In addition to the process pressure, the high-pressure modification may also be affected by the solution pH value, temperature, and cycle number (for HPH and DHPM), but these factors have much less influence on the modification than the process pressure.

Subcritical Water Modification
Water above boiling but below critical point (100-374 • C) is called subcritical water, which depolymerizes pectins by hydrolysis. Klinchongkon [105]. Although the degradation of pectins by subcritical water is non-selectable, some organic acids such as malic acid, oxalic acid, and citric acid are added to the reaction system to induce selective catalysis.  added organic acids to a subcritical water system, and the results suggested that the side chains of pectin were degraded first, followed by the backbones. They also found that there were different catalytic effects between the organic acids. Specifically, malic acid was more conducive to releasing Ara, xylose (Xyl), glucose (Glc), and Rha, while citric acid favored the release of Xyl, Ara, and fucose (Fuc) [69,106].
Since subcritical water cleaves the glycosidic bonds in pectins-mostly by the thermal effect-the reaction temperature is the main factor influencing subcritical water modification. Generally, the higher the reaction temperature, the greater the degradation of pectin will be.  found that compared to subcritical water at 125 • C, the degradation of pectin with subcritical water at 135 • C could significantly produce more oligogalacturonides with a degree of polymerization (DP) of 2-3 [69]. Klinchongkon et al. (2017) compared the degradation of pectins by subcritical water at different temperatures and showed that the higher the reaction temperature is, the lower the M w of the products will be [71,72]. It is worth noting that excessive temperature is not conducive to modifying pectins because it can promote the generation of advanced glycation end-products, which are undesirable [70]. In addition to temperature, the reaction pressure and time also influence subcritical water modification, albeit to far lesser extent than the reaction temperature [69,71].

Irradiation Modification
Irradiation modification induces physical and chemical changes in pectins by gamma irradiation or electron beams. The former has a longer treatment time but deeper penetration depth, while the latter requires a shorter residence time but can only penetrate a few centimeters below the sample surface [17,73,74]. Kang et al. (2006) prepared pectin oligosaccharides with a M w less than 10 kDa using Co-60 gamma rays, and Gamonpilas et al. (2021) obtained modified pectin with 98-99% M w losses by electron beam irradiation [17,107].
Irradiation modification mainly acts on the M w and DM of pectins and is mostly influenced by the irradiation dosage. For M w , the higher the irradiation dosage is, the lower the M w will be, and this degradation effect may be more apparent at low irradiation dosages. There are still some controversies regarding the DM. Gamonpilas et al. (2021) found that the DM of pectin increased with the increasing irradiation dose when the dose was higher than 50 kGy, but this phenomenon was only observed when the DM was detected by FT-IR. When the DM was detected by HPLC, there was no significant change in 125 kGy [17]. However, Ayyad et al. (1990) found that Co-60 gamma rays could lower the DM of pectins by approximately 8% (the DM was determined by HPLC) [75]. Sjöberg et al. (1987) treated whole apples with Co-60 gamma rays and showed that the DM of the pectin isolated from the irradiated apples was lowered by approximately half compared to that of the pectin isolated from the untreated apples (the DM was determined by gasliquid chromatography) [76]. Some possible explanations for these discrepancies are the differences in the accuracy of detection means.

Low-Temperature Plasma Modification
Plasma is a mixture of positive ions and electrons produced by applying energy to a gas or gas mixture through ionizing gas, and it contains low-temperature and thermal plasma. Low-temperature plasma has been used to degrade pectins, and the detailed mechanism is shown in Table 1 2022) lowered the M w and DM of pectin by 18% and 11% and by 21% and 75% through nitrogen glow discharge low-temperature plasma and atmospheric pressure pin-to-plate cold plasma, respectively [80,81,108].
Low-temperature plasma modification is mainly influenced by the treatment voltage and time. Generally, the higher and longer the treatment voltage and time are, the more reactive species can be generated, which degrade the pectins to a greater extent [80][81][82].

Other Physical Modifications
In addition to the physical modifications mentioned above, some uncommon methods have been used to modify pectins.

Enzymatic Modification of Pectins
Compared with chemical and physical modification, the greatest advantage of enzymatic modification is the high specificity. In addition, it has the benefits of mild reaction conditions, a high degradation efficiency, and being friendly to the environment. However, the high specificity also means that the modification requires the cooperation of multiple enzymes to achieve the desired degradation effect, which results in high costs [19]. According to their different specificities, enzymatic modification can be divided into modifications of the backbones and side chains as shown in Figure 2. The sites and production of enzymes are listed in Table 2. Randomly hydrolyze α-1,4-glycosidic bonds in polygalacturonic acid, releasing oligogalacturonic acid. [114] Exo-polygalacturonase-1 Exo-PG-1 3.2.1.67 Hydrolyze the first α-1,4-glycosidic bonds from the non-reducing end of polygalacturonic acid, releasing mono-and oligogalacturonic acid. [115] Exo-polygalacturonase-2 Exo-PG-2 3.2.1.82 Hydrolyze the second α-1,4-glycosidic bonds from the non-reducing end of polygalacturonic acid, releasing di-and oligogalacturonic acid. [116]

Enzymatic Modification of Pectins
Compared with chemical and physical modification, the greatest advantage of enz matic modification is the high specificity. In addition, it has the benefits of mild reacti conditions, a high degradation efficiency, and being friendly to the environment. Ho ever, the high specificity also means that the modification requires the cooperation of m tiple enzymes to achieve the desired degradation effect, which results in high costs [1 According to their different specificities, enzymatic modification can be divided into mo ifications of the backbones and side chains as shown in Figure 2. The sites and producti of enzymes are listed in Table 2.

Pectin Esterase
Pectinesterase consists of pectin methylesterase (PME) and pectin acetylesterase (PAE), which remove the methyl and acetyl groups from polygalacturonic acid to produce methanol and ethanol, respectively. Currently, there is more research on PME than PAE. For example, Zhang et al. (2022) and Zhou et al. (2021) used PME to lower the DM of pectins by 52% and 90%, respectively [36,37]. Pillai et al. (2020) also used PME to demethyl-esterify natural high-methoxy pectin and obtained a series of modified pectins with a DM distribution of 33-42% [129]. Notably, PME produces highly toxic methanol while de-methyl esterifying, which is unfavorable for pectins that are modified and subsequently used in food systems.

Pectin Hydrolase
Pectin hydrolase depolymerizes pectins by attacking the α-1,4-glycosidic bonds between GalpA units to generate pectin oligosaccharides or mono-GalpA. According to their different substrates, pectin hydrolases can be divided into polygalacturonase (PG) and polymethylgalacturonate (PMG), which attack the α-1,4-glycosidic bonds between unesterified and esterified GalpA units, respectively. Moreover, PG and PMG can be further divided into endo-PG and exo-PG, in the former case, and endo-PMG and exo-PMG, in the latter case, according to their mechanisms of action. The endo-fashion enzymes hydrolyze polygalacturonic acid chains in a random fashion, releasing shortened pectin oligosaccharides, while the exo-fashion enzymes hydrolyze the chains from the terminal end, releasing mono-GalpA or disaccharides [114]. Although pectin hydrolases contain many subsidiary enzymes, endo-PG is the most common and widely used enzyme in current research.

Pectate Lyase
Pectate lyase also depolymerizes pectins by attacking the α-1,4-glycosidic bonds between GalpA units, but unlike pectate hydrolase, it cleaves the glycosidic bonds at the C-4 positions of GalpA through the β-elimination reaction and eliminates H atoms from the C-5 positions, resulting in the generation of unsaturates in a process that is the same as the mechanism of alkali degradation. According to the substrate and mechanism, pectin lyases can also be divided into polygalacturonate lyase (PGL) and polymethylgalacturonate lyase (PMGL) in endo-and exo-fashion [60,121,[134][135][136]. The research on PGLs is more prevalent. Similar to the degradation of polygalacturonic acid, enzymes that degrade RG-I backbones can also be divided into acetylesterase, endo/exo-hydrolase, and endo/exo-lyase.
RG-I acetylesterase (RGAE) only hydrolyzes acetyl groups on the O-2 or O-3 of GalAs in RG-I backbones. Although RGAE acts in a similar manner to PAE, they are suitable for different substrates [122].
RG-I endo-lyase cleaves the α-1,4-glycosidic bonds between the GalpA and Rhap of RG-I backbones (β-elimination), releasing oligosaccharides with Rhap and unsaturated GalpA at the reducing and non-reducing end, respectively. RG-I exo-lyase cleaves the α-1,4-glycosidic bonds of RG-I oligomers with Rhap at the reducing end and unsaturated GalpA at the non-reducing end, releasing disaccharide and reducing the size of rhamnogalacturonan with unsaturated GalpA at the non-reducing end [122,142,143].
In the case of these abovementioned enzymes acting on the pectin backbones, the long and complex side chains often prevent them from reaching the action site smoothly, resulting in a low degradation efficiency. Therefore, researchers usually first remove these side chains using acids (described in Section 2.2.1) or enzymes aimed toward the side chains, enabling the more complete degradation of the pectin.

Modification of Pectin Neutral Side Chains
Although both the RG-I and RG-II domains have branches, more research has focused on the neutral sugar side chains of the RG-I domain. The RG-II domain has the most complex neutral sugar side chains in pectins, containing 11-12 glycosides, 28-36 sugars, and more than 20 glycosidic bonds [144], and it is not easily degraded by enzymes. As for the RG-I domain, there are three typical neutral sugar side chains, namely galactan (β-1,4-linked galactose), arabinan (α-1,5-linked arabinose with some Araf substitutions at C-2 or C-3), and arabinogalactan (AG). AG is further divided into type I (AG-I) and type II (AG-II) structures. The former is composed of 1,4-linked Gal units with an Ara or Galp substituent on the O-3 or O-6 of Gal, while the latter is composed of 1,3,6-linked Gal units with 1,3-and 1,6-galactan chains covered with Araf [48,140,145].
(2020) used endo-α-1,5-arabinanase to degrade 11.45% of the RG-I domain in pectin, mainly because of the substantial loss of Ara from the RG-I domain [148].
Different enzymes have their own unique modes of action, which allow researchers to perform targeted degradation. However, pectins with a higher degree of modification should be prepared by multi-enzyme systems rather than single enzymes. For example, Holck et al. (2011) degraded pectins gradually through multi-enzyme systems. They first separated the HG and RG-I domains of the pectins using pectin lyase and then removed the neutral sugar side chains of the RG-I domain using β-galactosidases, β-galactanase, α-arabinofuranosidase, and α-arabinanase. Finally, they prepared RG-I-type oligomers using RG-I lyase [128]. Noguchi et al. (2019) used multi-enzymes to prepare pectins with various structures; specifically, they prepared HG-type pectin by combining endo-and exo-RG-I lyase and endo-xylogalacturase. In addition, they also prepared RG-I-type pectin by endo-and exo-polygalacturonase [149]. Olawuyi et al. (2022) removed the side chains of pectin and obtained high-linearity modified products by combining polygalacturonase, galactanase, and arabinanase [150]. Enzymatic modification is influenced by the reaction temperature, pH value, substrate/enzyme concentration, and reaction time, and the first two variates are the main factors related to enzyme activities. For the reaction temperature, although there are differences between the optimal temperatures of various enzymes, most of them show the highest activity in the range of 20-60 • C. There are also a few enzymes resistant to high or low temperatures.  [153,154]. Notably, in addition to the abovementioned factors, Ca 2+ also has an important effect on the activity of PGL. Ca 2+ can acidify the C-5 protons of GalAs to bind to the +1 subsite of PGL. Furthermore, Ca 2+ is conducive to neutralizing the negatively charged GalAs and stabilizing the enol anion intermediate by resonance [155,156].

Potential Bioactivities of Modified Pectins
It is well-known that the structures of pectins are closely related to their bioactivities. The modification process not only provides new structures to the pectins but also changes their bioactivities. Specifically, as shown in Table 3, the modified pectins may exhibit higher or lower bioactivities than natural pectins and may also possess new bioactivities.

Anti-inflammatory activity
Higher inhibiting effects on the production of nitrite, the expression of iNOS, the phosphorylation of IκB kinase α/β and p65, and the degradation of IκBα [56] Ficus pumila L.

Anti-Coagulant Activity
Sulfation introduces anti-coagulant activity to modified pectins, which, generally, do not exist in natural pectins [32,41,164]. Sulfated pectins are able to prolong the thrombin time (TT), prothrombin time (PT), and the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), which are crucial for blood coagulation. Bae et al. (2009) even reported that these prolongation effects were stronger than those of heparin, a recognized anti-coagulant sulfated polysaccharide [30]. In addition, sulfated pectins are also confirmed to inhibit thrombin. Maas et al. (2012) and Hu et al. (2015) suggested that this inhibition effect is achieved by a mechanism dependent on antithrombin and heparin co-factor II [32,39]. However, Cipriani et al. (2009) argued that sulfated pectins can directly inhibit thrombin and factor X, being activated without this mechanism [157]. The anti-coagulant activity of sulfated pectins is proportional to their DS [31,164] and is also affected by their M w . Specifically, sulfated pectins with similar structures but larger M w show a higher anti-coagulant activity in an in vivo experiment [157].

Anti-Oxidant Activity
Sulfation and selenylation enhance the anti-oxidant activity of pectins. In the former case, the sulfate groups can create a highly acidic environment in solutions, allowing them to more easily trap free radicals that can result in cell damage, such as ·OH and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals via electrostatics [165]. In addition, sulfated pectins can also better protect cells from oxidative stress by increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and decreasing the malondialdehyde (MDA) content [12]. In the case of selenylation, selenium may exist in selenylated pectins in the form of selenyl groups or seleno-acid ester, which can form complex chelating ions, such as Fe 2+ or Cu 2+ , thereby inhibiting the generation of ·OH [88].
In addition to modifications based on the introduction of new functional groups, those based on degradation can also improve the anti-oxidant activity of pectins. The degradation of pectin exposes or generates some functional groups at the cleavage site, such as a hydroxyl group (-OH), which can donate electrons and hydrogen, and thus are more receptive to radicals. Zhang  suggested that the modified pectins with lower M w had a higher scavenging ability of ·OH, DPPH, and 2,2'-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS·+) radicals and a higher reduction ability of Fe 3+ than that of natural pectins. A possible reason for this enhancement is that more -OH was generated during the degradation, which is effective in the scavenging of free radicals [36,81,158]. However, Wu et al. (2021) reported that as the M w of modified pectin increased, the inhibition of LPS-stimulated production of ROS became stronger, but this opposite conclusion may depend not only on the increased M w of modified pectin but also on the long neutral side chains attached in it [159].
However, Wu et al. (2021) reported that the inhibition effect on the generation of ROS stimulated by LPS became stronger with the increase in the M w , but this opposite conclusion might be drawn not only dependent on the M w increase but also on the long neutral side chains attached to the modified pectin with a higher M w [159]. In fact, RG-I domains with neutral side chains allow pectins to show better anti-oxidant properties, such as favorable scavenging effects on ·OH, DPPH, and ABTS·+ radicals [166].

Ability to Regulate the Intestinal Environment
Similar to the enhancement of the anti-oxidant activity, the introduction or removal of functional groups, such as methyl esterification and de-methyl esterification, as well as the degradation of pectins, including M w and domain changes, also affect the ability of pectin to regulate the intestinal environment.

Regulating Ability Based on Methyl Ester Groups/DM
There are several points of debate regarding the effect of methyl ester groups/DM on the ability of pectin to regulate the intestinal environment. Some researchers believe that LMPs have better potential to promote the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as acetic acid, propionic acid, and butyric acid [160,161,167]. However, some other researchers believe that HMPs are more capable of promoting the production of these SCFAs. For example, Larsen et al. (2019) and Fåk et al. (2015) reported that HMP could significantly boost the generation of acetic acid, propionic acid, and total SCFAs in the TIM-2 colon model, as well as the serum and caecum of obese mice, while LMP performed poorly [4,168]. In addition to the two opposite viewpoints mentioned above, there are some researchers who consider that the ability of pectins to regulate the intestinal environment is not related to the changes in the DM [169,170]. A reasonable explanation for these points of debate is that the processes of methyl esterification and de-methyl esterification are often accompanied by changes in other structural characteristics of pectins, such as M w , and these multi-angled changes mean that the modified pectins show different abilities to regulate the intestinal environment.

Regulating Ability Based on M w
Chemical, physical, and enzymatic degradation lowers the M w of pectins. Pectins with a lower M w tend to possess simpler structures and lower steric resistance, meaning that they are more easily degraded by the pectinase secreted by intestinal microorganisms, thereby showing better promoting effects for the production of SCFAs and the proliferation of probiotics [171]. Chen et al. (2013) found that pectin oligosaccharides with an M w less than 5 kDa increased the number of Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli and reduced the number of Bacteroides and Clostridia. Furthermore, they also generated more acetic acid, lactic acid, and propionic acid than natural pectin [101]. Similarly, Gamonpilas et al. (2021) prepared pectin oligosaccharide with an M w of 2 kDa, and it showed a better fermentation ability for the butyric-acid-producing Eubacterium maltosivorans strain than natural pectin with M w of 200-300 kDa [17]. However, an excessively low M w is unfavorable. Li et al. (2016) prepared pectin oligosaccharides with M w less than 1 kDa, between 1-3 kDa, and more than 3 kDa through the multi-enzyme system. The results indicated that pectin oligosaccharide with a medium M w , but not the lowest M w (1-3 kDa), showed the best ability to stimulate the growth of Bifidobacterium infantis and inhibit the growth of Bacteroides fragilis [163].

Regulating Ability Based on Domains
Modification can change the proportions and structures of pectin domains to introduce them to different regulating abilities. Generally, modified pectins rich in the HG domain are likely to produce more butyric acid and acetic acid, and those containing more neutral sugar side chains tend to produce propionic acid. Cantu Jungles et al. (2019) compared the in vitro fermentation properties of pectins with or without the HG domain. The results indicated that although there was little difference in the total SCFA content between these pectins, the former could produce more acetic acid, while the latter could produce more propionic acid [172]. Similar conclusions were also drawn by Tian et al. (2016) and Ishisono et al. (2019). They both confirmed the correlation of the HG domain and neutral sugar side chains with butyric acid and propionic acid [167,173]. In addition, the types of neutral sugar in the domains with side chains also affect the regulating ability.

Anti-Tumor Activity
Pectins are broken down into smaller fragments with lower M w during degradation, which are more easily absorbed by cancer cells and thus exhibit a better anti-tumor activity [175]. In addition, the simpler structures of modified pectins more easily bond to galectin-3 (Gal-3), thus preventing tumor growth [57]. Kang et al. (2006) compared the natural pectin with pectin oligosaccharides with an M w less than 10 kDa, prepared by irradiation treatment, and the result suggested that the modified product significantly enhanced the inhibition of skin (B16), colon (HT29), and human melanoma (SKMEL) cancer cells [107].  also reported that the ability of modified pectin oligosaccharides to inhibit the growth of human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) increased with the decrease in the M w [57]. Not only the M w but also domain change influences the anti-tumor activity of pectins. Notably, the retention and proportion of galactan side chains are crucial for the anti-tumor effect of modified pectins. Gal-3 tends to be highly expressed in tumor cells, which is closely related to the formation and metastasis of tumors [176]. A galactan side chain can occupy the binding site of Gal-3 to inhibit its activity and result in anti-tumor activity [177]. Hu et al. (2019) increased the content of Gal in natural pectin by combining the US with the NaHCO 3 -H 2 O 2 system and found that the modified pectin had better inhibiting effects on A549 lung cancer cells than natural pectin [58]. Ellen et al. (2015) obtained modified pectins rich in HG and branched RG-I domains using acid and alkali treatments, respectively, and the latter could better inhibit the proliferation of colon cancer HT29 cells by inducing apoptosis. In addition, they reported that the arabinan and, in particular, galactan side chains were necessary for RG-I-type pectin, enabling it to show the abovementioned effects [162]. Gao et al. (2013) reported that the galactan side chain plays a key role in the ability of modified pectin to inhibit Gal-3 and is affected by the chain length. However, the arabinan side chain showed positive or negative regulation according to its position in the modified pectin [178]. Although neutral sugar side chains play a key role in the anti-tumor activity of pectins, they are not the only effective structures. Minzanova et al. (2018) suggested that even if all the neutral sugar side chains of sugar beet pectin were eliminated by alkali treatment, the remaining RG-I/HG backbones could still promote apoptosis in colon cancer cells [166].

Immunomodulatory Activity
Sulfation can improve the immunoregulatory activity of pectins by alleviating damage to the immune organs, stimulating the production of inflammatory cytokines, and promoting the proliferation of immune cells. Huang et al. (2020) prepared a pectin-like sulfated polysaccharide, which could relieve the weight loss and thymus index of immunosuppressed mice induced by cyclophosphamide. Furthermore, the sulfated product could better promote the release of interleukin (IL)-1β and increase concanavalin-induced T-cell proliferation, showing a higher immunomodulatory activity than natural polymer [13].
In addition, the decrease in the M w also affects the immunoregulatory activity of pectins from the viewpoint of retaining the vitality of immune cells, but the specific mechanism is not well-understood [107]. The changes in the carbohydrate chain of pectins during modification also determine their bioactivity. Specifically, pectins rich in GalA, which are mainly composed of the HG domain, are able to suppress macrophage activity and inhibit the delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction. Pectins rich in branch regions, which are mainly composed of RG-I or RG-II domains, can mediate the stimulation of phagocytosis and increase the production of antibodies [166]. In addition, the different neutral sugar side chains in the branching region show immunomodulatory activity in different ways. For example, Ognyanov et al. (2013) successfully degraded the HG domain and galactan side chain through enzymatic treatment. They found that after the degradation of the HG domain, the retained RG-I domain in the modified pectin had a higher anti-complementary activity. However, this activity was significantly lowered with the removal of the galactan side chain, indicating the effect of the galactan side chain on the immunomodulatory activity of pectin [179].  and Zhang et al. (2012) removed the arabinan side chain in pectin through acid degradation, and the former suggested that this treatment led to the greater exposure of the galactan side chain of pectin, better enabling the modified pectin to promote macrophage phagocytosis. However, the latter indicated that the removal of the arabinan side chain weakened the proliferative effect on lymphocyte and the stimulation effect on the NO secretion of the macrophage of modified pectin [48,49].

Anti-Inflammatory Activity
DM affects the anti-inflammatory activity of pectins. Kedir et al. (2022) suggested that LMP can reduce intestinal inflammation while HMP can diminish systemic and local inflammation. However, this mechanism is still unclear [175]. Selenylation has the potential to relieve inflammation by regulating inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress. Tao et al. (2022) demonstrated that, compared to natural pectin, selenylation pectin provided preferable protection against ulcerative colitis by down-regulating the IL-6 and TNF-α contents and up-regulating the IL-10 content of the serum and by increasing the glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity and decreasing the myeloperoxidase (MPO) content of colon tissues [89]. In addition, Lee et al. (2018) also confirmed that selenylated pectin showed more apparent inhibition effects on the protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in RAW264.7 cells by inhibiting the activation of p38 (related to the mitogenactivated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway) [22]. The abnormal expression of iNOS is closely related to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation via nitric oxide (NO) production. In addition to the MAPK signaling pathway, the expression of iNOS is also regulated by the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway. Yeung et al. (2021) indicated that compared to the natural pectin, the modified pectin with a lower M w could more significantly suppress the production of nitrite and the expression of iNOS by inhibiting the LPS-induced phosphorylation of IκB kinase α/β and p65 and the degradation of IκBα. They concluded that the preferable inhibition effect of the modified pectin should be attributed to the low M w , which rendered it more likely to enter the cells [56]. Interestingly, the reduction in M w was unfavorable regarding the anti-inflammatory activity in the research of Wu et al. (2021). They observed that the pectin oligosaccharides down-regulated the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines in an M w -dependent manner, and therefore, suggested that the intact pectin chain structure played an important role in the anti-inflammatory activity. They further concluded that the long neutral side chains of the intact pectins were the important structural factor [159]. Ishisono et al. (2019) also confirmed the beneficial effects of pectin side chains. Specifically, pectin with a higher content of neutral sugar side chains could better improve the damage of colonic tissue and significantly reduce the levels of IL-1β and IL-6 in the colons of colitis mice, while this effect was not observed in pectin with a lower content of neutral sugar side chains [173].

Hypoglycemic Activity
Although much research has been conducted on the hypoglycemic activity of natural pectins, relatively few studies have focused on the effect of modification on the hypoglycemic activity of pectins. Changes in the DM have been shown to affect this bioactivity. Chen et al. (2022) observed that the ability of modified pectins to improve insulin resistance (IR) in IR-HepG2 cells first increased and then decreased with the increase in the DM, which was in accordance with the uptake of pectins by HepG2 cells [34]. In addition, Hu et al. (2020) revealed that, compared to HMP, LMP was more easily combined with Gal-3 and showed a better protective effect on β-cells against the damage caused by oxidative stress and inflammatory stress [180].

Anti-Bacterial Activity
Sulfation has the ability to enhance the anti-bacterial activity of pectins, especially against Gram-negative bacteria. Bae et al. (2009) found that sulfated pectin inhibited the growth of harmful microorganisms such as Bacillus cereus and Vibrio fischeri, and the inhibitory effect on Vibrio fischeri at 2.0 mg/mL was approximately three times higher than that of natural pectin [30]. In addition, the decrease in the M w also has an enhancing effect on the anti-bacterial activity of pectins, but it tends to inhibit the growth of Gram-positive bacteria. For example, Li et al. (2016) suggested that modified pectins with a high M w prepared by enzymatic degradation had better inhibition effects on Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Escherichia coli than those of the modified pectin with a high M w [163]. Similarly, the DM also appears to affect the effect of pectin in inhibiting Gram-positive bacteria. Jantrawut et al. (2019) combined LMP with carboxymethyl cellulose and gelatin to construct hydrogel films, which could effectively inhibit the activity of Staphylococcus aureus [181,182].

Conclusions and Future Prospects Perspectives
There are both advantages and disadvantages to the methods of pectin modification mentioned above. Chemical modification is the most simple and direct method that can be used to introduce new functional groups into pectin, but it requires a large amount of chemical reagents and is not environmentally friendly. Although physical modification can avoid the use of chemical reagents, showing a better capacity for environmental protection, its relatively random and uncontrollable modification mode is not conducive to preparing ideal products. Enzymatic modification is a highly targeted and efficient method, but the expensive enzymes mean that it is difficult to apply to industrial production. Based on these analyses, future research should, on the one hand, focus on the development of modification methods that combine environmental friendliness and cost-effectiveness and, on the other hand, explore methods enabling the accurate control of modification conditions that favor the targeted modification and degradation of pectins.
In addition, it is well-known that modification is able to improve the structural characteristics and promote the bioactivities of pectins and even add new bioactivities. However, it may also have a negative effect on pectins, which is ignored by most of the current research. Based on this observation, researchers should comprehensively evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the modification of pectins and establish a multi-angle evaluation mechanism for modified pectins in future research.
Finally, although researchers have discovered a variety of changes in the bioactivity of pectins resulting from modification, there are relatively few studies that focus on the mechanisms underlying these changes. For example, some selenylated pectins have been shown to have a better capacity for the modulation of inflammatory cytokines than natural pectins, but the related signaling pathways remain unclear. Based on this observation, researchers should further explore the bioactivity mechanisms of modified pectins, especially those mechanisms involving significant changes compared to natural pectins.