The reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radical-initiated reactions are ascertained to play multiple roles in degenerative or pathological events such as aging, cancer, heart dysfunction and Alzheimer's disease. EPS2 with a mean molecular weight of 1.3 x 10(5) was characterized as an antioxidant exopolysaccharide from the broth of a marine filamentous fungus Keissleriella sp. YS 4108. Compositionally, it is composed of galactose, glucose, rhamnose, mannose and glucuronic acid in an approximate proportion of 50:8:1:1:0.4. The radical eliminating and antioxidant actions of the glycan was assessed in different in vitro systems showing that EPS2 exhibited profound scavenging activities in superoxide radical. As a reinforcement of the action, similar radical scavenging effects of EPS2 were also discerned with both site-specific and non site-specific hydroxyl radical using the deoxyribose assay method. Moreover, EPS2 effectively blocked as well the non site-specific strand-breaking of DNA induced by the Fenton reaction at concentrations of 0.1 and 1 mg/mL. Further investigation of the effect of EPS2 on human low density lipoprotein (LDL) system demonstrated that it significantly inhibited copper-mediated oxidation of LDL in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that EPS2, possessing pronounced free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities, could be of considerable preventive and therapeutic significance to some life-threatening health problems such as cancer, atherogenesis and Alzheimer's disease which pathologically initiated by the presence of free radicals leading to the inevitable peroxidation of important biomolecules.
Copyright 2004 Elsevier Inc.