Effects of extraction methods on the yield, chemical structure and anti-tumor activity of polysaccharides from Cordyceps gunnii mycelia

Abstract This study was to investigate the effects of different extraction methods on the yield, chemical structure and antitumor activity of polysaccharides from Cordyceps gunnii ( C. gunnii ) mycelia. Five extraction methods were used to extract crude polysaccharides (CPS), which include room-temperature water extraction (RWE), hot-water extraction (HWE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and cellulase-assisted extraction (CAE). Then Sephadex G-100 was used for purification of CPS. As a result, the antitumor activities of CPS and PPS on S180 cells were evaluated. Five CPS and purified polysaccharides (PPS) were obtained. The yield of CPS by microwave-assisted extraction (CPS MAE ) was the highest and its anti-tumor activity was the best and its macromolecular polysaccharide (3000–1000 kDa) ratio was the largest. The PPS had the same monosaccharide composition, but their obvious difference was in the antitumor activity and the physicochemical characteristics, such as intrinsic viscosity, specific rotation, scanning electron microscopy and circular dichroism spectra.