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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Macromolecules".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 8504

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Dr. Chunhua Wu

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Guest Editor

College of Food Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Interests: structure and function of polysaccharides; polysaccharides-based delivery system for bioactive food components; development and utilization of food hydrocolloids
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Zijian Zhi

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Guest Editor

Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Interests: polysaccharides; oil structuring; O/W/O double emulsions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polysaccharides are natural biopolymers that can be extracted from animals, plants and microorganisms. Due to their renewability, biodegradability, abundance and unique processing properties, polysaccharides have emerged as attractive ingredients in numerous industrial productions with favorable competition. Recently, recent numerous studies have revealed that polysaccharides exert a wide range of biological, nutritional and carrier properties to highlight their beneficial influences on human health, further driving their functional applications in food, pharmaceutical, biomedical, and biotechnological applications. Apart from that, polysaccharides can be developed into various emulsifiers and stabilizers to regulate the product structure, like beverages, and into natural packaging films to extend the shelf life of foods. Additionally, polysaccharides can be employed as organic frameworks and biofuels in electrochemical and environmental fields. Thus, a growing understanding and in-depth research are facilitating the exploitation of natural polysaccharides for advanced applications.

Here, we would like to invite authors to contribute original research articles, as well as review articles, focusing on “Advances and applications of polysaccharides” in different fields including food, biomedical, pharmaceutical, drug delivery, electronics and environmental science.

Dr. Chunhua Wu
Dr. Zijian Zhi
Guest Editors

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Research

18 pages, 2339 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Salt and Temperature Effects on Xanthan Gum Polysaccharide in Aqueous Solutions

by Emmanuel M. Nsengiyumva, Mark P. Heitz and Paschalis Alexandridis

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(1), 490; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25010490 - 29 Dec 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2456

Abstract

Xanthan gum (XG) is a carbohydrate polymer with anionic properties that is widely used as a rheology modifier in various applications, including foods and petroleum extraction. The aim was to investigate the effect of Na⁺, K⁺, and Ca²⁺ on the physicochemical properties of XG in an aqueous solution as a function of temperature. Huggins, Kraemer, and Rao models were applied to determine intrinsic viscosity, [η], by fitting the relative viscosity (η_rel) or specific viscosity (η_sp) of XG/water and XG/salt/water solutions. With increasing temperature in water, Rao 1 gave [η] the closest to the Huggins and Kraemer values. In water, [η] was more sensitive to temperature increase (~30% increase in [η], 20–50 °C) compared to salt solutions (~15–25% increase). At a constant temperature, salt counterions screened the XG side-chain-charged groups and decreased [η] by up to 60% over 0.05–100 mM salt. Overall, Ca²⁺ was much more effective than the monovalent cations in screening charge. As the salt valency and concentration increased, the XG coil radius decreased, making evident the effect of shielding the intramolecular and intermolecular XG anionic charge. The reduction in repulsive forces caused XG structural contraction. Further, higher temperatures led to chain expansion that facilitated increased intermolecular interactions, which worked against the salt effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications of Polysaccharides)

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23 pages, 11998 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Creation of Chemically Tri-Layered Collagen Crosslinked Membranes and Their Comparison with Ionically Tri-Layered Chitosan Crosslinked Membranes to Study Human Skin Properties

by Larry Galán-Navea, Rocío Guerle-Cavero, Albert Balfagón-Costa and Beatriz Artalejo-Ortega

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(17), 13443; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241713443 - 30 Aug 2023

Viewed by 1184

Abstract

In 2009, a new European regulation came into force that forbade the use of animals in the cosmetics industry. As a result, new alternatives were sought, taking into account the new ethical considerations. The main objective of this article is to continue a line of research that aims to build a physical model of skin from a biomaterial scaffold composed of collagen, chitosan or a combination to investigate whether they offer similar behavior to human skin. Collagen, the major component in the dermis, was crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GTA) to develop three formulations for studying some properties of the skin through rheological tests like swelling index, elasticity or water loss. In addition, this article makes a comparison with the results obtained in the previous article where the membranes were made of chitosan and tripolyphosphate (TPP). The results obtained highlight that the tri-layered membranes scaffold better than the mono-layered ones to increase the elastic modulus (G′) and the permeability. Furthermore, they offer a protective effect against water loss compared to mono-layered membranes. As regards chitosan membranes, these have a higher G′ modulus than collagen membranes when the degree of deacetylation (DDA) is 85%. However, collagen membranes are more elastic when the DDA of chitosan is 76%, and their linear viscoelastic limit (LVL) doubles that of chitosan membranes, both for the degree of acetylation of 76 and 85%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications of Polysaccharides)

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22 pages, 2558 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Carrageenans and Their Oligosaccharides from Red Seaweeds Ahnfeltiopsis flabelliformis and Mastocarpus pacificus (Phyllophoraceae) and Their Antiproliferative Activity

by Anna O. Kravchenko, Ekaterina S. Menchinskaya, Vladimir V. Isakov, Valery P. Glazunov and Irina M. Yermak

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(8), 7657; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24087657 - 21 Apr 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2169

Abstract

Comparative structural analysis of gelling polysaccharides from A. flabelliformis and M. pacificus belonging to Phyllophoraceae and the effect of their structural features and molecular weight on human colon cancer cell lines (HT-29, DLD-1, HCT-116) was carried out. According to chemical analysis, IR and NMR spectroscopies, M. pacificus produces kappa/iota-carrageenan with a predominance of kappa units and minor amounts of mu and/or nu units, while the polysaccharide from A. flabelliformis is iota/kappa-carrageenan (predominance of iota units) and contains negligible amounts of beta- and nu-carrageenans. Iota/kappa- (Afg-OS) and kappa/iota-oligosaccharides (Mp-OS) were obtained from the original polysaccharides through mild acid hydrolysis. The content of more sulfated iota units in Afg-OS (iota/kappa 7:1) was higher than in Mp-OS (1.0:1.8). The poly- and oligosaccharides up to 1 mg/mL did not show a cytotoxic effect on all tested cell lines. Polysaccharides showed an antiproliferative effect only at 1 mg/mL. Oligosaccharides had a more pronounced effect on HT-29 and HCT-116 cells than the original polymers, while HCT-116 cells were slightly more sensitive to their action. Kappa/iota-oligosaccharides exhibit a greater antiproliferative effect and more strongly decrease the number of colonies forming in HCT-116 cells. At the same time, iota/kappa-oligosaccharides inhibit cell migration more strongly. Kappa/iota-oligosaccharides induce apoptosis in the SubG0 and G2/M phases, while iota/kappa-oligosaccharides in the SubG0 phase. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications of Polysaccharides)

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18 pages, 4296 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Structural Characterization, Antioxidant and Antitumor Activities of the Two Novel Exopolysaccharides Produced by Debaryomyces hansenii DH-1

by Yajing Yang, Guoqiang Chen, Xiaoqi Zhao, Xiaohe Cao, Lei Wang, Jingjiu Mu, Fenghui Qi, Lijuan Liu and Haibo Zhang

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(1), 335; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24010335 - 25 Dec 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1836

Abstract

Exopolysaccharides produced by edible microorganisms exhibit excellent constructive physicochemical and significant biological activity, which provide advantages for the food or pharmaceutical industries. Two novel exopolysaccharides produced by Debaryomyces hansenii DH-1 were characterized, named S1 and S2, respectively. S1, with a molecular weight of 34.594 kDa, primarily consisted of mannose and glucose in a molar ratio of 12.19:1.00, which contained a backbone fragment of α-D-Manp-(1→4)-α-D-Manp-(1→2)-α-D-Glcp-(1→3)-α-D-Manp-(1→3)-β-D-Glcp-(1→4)-β-D-Manp-(1→. S2, with a molecular weight of 24.657 kDa, was mainly composed of mannose and galactose in a molar ratio of 4.00:1.00, which had a backbone fragment of α-D-Manp-(1→6)-β-D-Manp-(1→2)-α-D-Manp-(1→4)-α-D-Galp-(1→3)-β-D-Manp-(1→6)-α-D-Manp-(1→. Both S1 and S2 exhibited good thermal stability and potent hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, with ~98%. Moreover, S1 possessed an additional strong iron-reducing capacity. In vitro antitumor assays showed that S1 and S2 significantly inhibited the proliferation of Hela, HepG2, and PC-9 cancer cells. Moreover, PC-9 was more sensitive to S1 compared with S2. The above results indicate that S1 and S2 have great potential to be utilized as natural antioxidants and candidates for cancer treatment in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications of Polysaccharides)

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