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Planta Med 2023; 89(10): 952-963
DOI: 10.1055/a-2063-5595
Biological and Pharmacological Activity
Original Papers

Structural Characterization and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Anticomplementary Polysaccharides from Rhododendron principis

Zhi-Zhi Zhao  ‡
1   School of Pharmacy, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
,
Jie Zhang‡
1   School of Pharmacy, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
,
Zhou Hong
1   School of Pharmacy, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
,
Wei-Lian Bao
1   School of Pharmacy, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
,
Li-Shuang Zhou
1   School of Pharmacy, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
,
Yang Liu
1   School of Pharmacy, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
,
De-ji,
Dao-Feng Chen
1   School of Pharmacy, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
,
Yan Lu
1   School of Pharmacy, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
› Author AffiliationsThis work was supported by grants from the Science and Technology of Tibet Autonomous Region, China (XZ202001YD0003C, XZ201801-GA-13), and the Development Project of Shanghai Peak Disciplines-Integrative Medicine (20 180 101).
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Abstract

Rhododendron principis leaves have been used as “Dama”, a Traditional Tibetan Medicine for treating inflammatory diseases. R. principis crude polysaccharides with anticomplementary activity demonstrated promising anti-inflammatory effects on acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide. R. principis crude polysaccharides significantly decreased the levels of TNF-α and interleukin-6 in both serum and blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury mice by intragastric administration (100 mg/kg). A heteropolysaccharide, ZNDHP, was obtained from R. principis crude polysaccharides with successive anticomplementary activity-guided separation. ZNDHP was characterized as a branched neutral polysaccharide with a backbone composed of → 2)-β-Glcp-(1→, → 2,6)-α-Glcp-(1→, → 6,3)-β-Galp-(1→, → 2,6)-α-Galp-(1→, → 6,2)-β-Glcp-(1→, → 4)-α-Glcp-(1→, → 5)-β-Araf-(1→, → 3,5)-α-Araf-(1→, and → 4,6)-β-Manp-(1→, and the backbone structure was further confirmed by partial acid hydrolysis. In addition to anticomplementary and antioxidant activities, ZNDHP exhibited potent anti-inflammatory activity by significantly inhibiting the secretion of nitric oxide, TNF-α, interleukin-6, and interleukin-1β of lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW 264.7 cells. However, all of these activities decreased greatly after partially hydrolyzing, indicating the importance of the multibranched structure for its bioactivity. Therefore, ZNDHP might be an important component of R. principis for treating inflammation.

Key words

Ericaceae - Rhododendron principis - polysaccharide - anti-inflammatory - anticomplementary - structure characterization

Supporting Information

    Other main reagents used for the experiment, detailed procedures, GC chromatograms, and MS spectra of PMAAs of ZNDHP, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectra with labels of non-anomeric signals, and full HSQC and HMBC spectra are available as Supporting Information.

  • Supporting Information


Publication History

Received: 09 January 2023

Accepted after revision: 23 March 2023

Accepted Manuscript online:
28 March 2023

Article published online:
11 May 2023

© 2023. Thieme. All rights reserved.

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