Novel acidic β-glucans from Ganoderma lucidum: Structural characterization and molecular-weight-related antioxidant activity.

Authors

Zhouwei Wu, Xiaocui Liu, Yi Luo, Chenxi Quan, Xingrong Peng, Minghua Qiu

Published in

Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.). Volume 242. Issue Pt 5. Pages 120192. Oct 31, 2026. Epub Jul 30, 2026.

Abstract

Ganoderma lucidum is a widely consumed edible-medicinal fungus and an important source of bioactive polysaccharides. However, how molecular weight and peripheral structural features relate to the antioxidant activity of its acidic β-glucans remains unclear. Here, three homologous acidic β-glucans, GLP-2a-2c, with molecular weights of 4.69-15.57 kDa, were isolated from G. lucidum fruiting bodies. HPGPC, monosaccharide profiling, UV/FT-IR spectroscopy, methylation-GC-MS, and 800 MHz 1D/2D NMR analyses identified multiple β-linked Glcp residue types, GlcA, and minor Fuc-, Ara-, and Man-related residues. In UV-irradiated HaCaT cells, the three fractions differed in antioxidant activity, and the intermediate-molecular-weight GLP-2b showed stronger effects on GSH-Px activity, MDA accumulation, and intracellular ROS than the other native fractions. GLP-2b (7.49 kDa) increased GSH-Px activity to approximately 2.1-fold of the UV control, lowered MDA content to about 35% of the UV control, and decreased intracellular ROS. The hydrolysate-derived fraction dGLP-2b (8.51 kDa) showed comparable ROS-reducing activity to GLP-2b despite differences in relative linkage composition. Within this molecular weight range, changes in linkage composition following mild hydrolysis were not associated with a detectable change in ROS-reducing activity. GLP-2b also attenuated UV-induced MAPK phosphorylation, with p38 showing the largest numerical reduction among the three MAPK readouts. These findings associate linkage characteristics of G. lucidum acidic β-glucan fractions with cellular antioxidant responses.

PMID:
42637347
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Aug 2026.

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