AIM: To investigate
polysaccharide from Tremella fuciformis Berk(TSP), and the structural characteristics and biological
activities. METHODS:TSP-2 was obtained by DEAE-SephadexA-50 gel columns
chromatography from crude
polysaccharide. TSP-2 was purifited to obtain TSP-2a～TSP-2c by Sephadex G-150 column chromatography and the purity was identifited by gel chromatography and HPGPC. Both chemical and spectral analyses were used to investigate the structural characteristics, Cytokine-stimulating effect on PBMC was studied by the method of radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: TSP-2a～TSP-2c were uniform singal peek and molecular weight were 1100 kD, 500 kD, 400 kD, respectively. They were composed of Fuc, Xyl, Man, Glc and GlcA. Glycosidic linkage analysis showed that they all had (1→3)-D-Man backbones, with the branching points at the 2-, 4-, or 6- position. They had similar cytokine stimulating activity. CONCLUSION:The results suggest that TSP-2a～TSP-2c were a highly branched heteroglycan with observable immune activity.