Anti-complementary effect of polysacchride B3-PS1 in Herba Scutellariae Barbatae (Scutellaria barbata)

Abstract

The polysaccharide B3-PS1 was extracted and purified from Herba Scutellariae Barbatae (Scutellaria barbata D. Don), through bioactivity-guided fractionation. Average molecular weight of B3-PS1 was about 1,700,000 Da with a composition of Gal, Glc, Man and Ara in the ratio of 4.3:1.6:1.1:1.0, and trace of Rha, Fuc and Xyl. Preliminary data showed that 1) B3-PS1 inhibited complement activation of the classic pathway with CH₅₀ value of 0.12 ± 0.02 mg/ml and of the alternative pathways with AP₅₀ value of 0.36 ± 0.05 mg/ml; 2) B3-PS1 interacts with C1q, C1r, C1s, C2, C3, C4, C5 and C9 through a hemolytic assay. These results strongly suggested that B3-PS1 could be a potential candidate in treating those complement-associated diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).

Keywords::

• Herba Scutellariae Barbatae
• polysacchride
• anti-complement
• hemolytic assay
• depleted serum

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the State Key Program (2009ZX09502-013) from the Ministry of Science and Technology, People’s Republic of China, and the Natural Science Key Projects of Anhui Education Committee (KJ2007A123ZC), China. The authors are grateful to Prof. Heping Wei at Anqing Normal College for identification of the plant material.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.