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Anti-diabetic activity of beta-glucans and their enzymatically hydrolyzed oligosaccharides from Agaricus blazei.

Kim YW, Kim KH, Choi HJ, Lee DS

Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science and Biohealth Products Research Center, Inje University, Gimhae, 621-749, Republic of Korea.

Beta-glucans were prepared from Agaricus blazei Murill by repeated extraction with hot water. The average molecular weights of beta-glucans were 30-50 kDa by gel filtration chromatography. Oligosaccharides (AO), derived from hydrolyzing beta-glucans with an endo-beta-(1-->6)-glucanase from Bacillus megaterium, were mainly di- and tri-saccharides. Though beta-glucans and AO both showed anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hypertriglyceridemic, anti-hypercholesterolemic, and anti-arteriosclerotic activity indicating overall anti-diabetic activity in diabetic rats, AO had about twice the activity of beta-glucans with respect to anti-diabetic activity.

Published 1 June 2005 in Biotechnol Lett, 27(7): 483-7.
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