Water-soluble polysaccharides from Salvia officinalis L. possessing immunomodulatory activity

A water-soluble polysaccharide complex (A) composed of galactose (17.9%), 3-O-methyl-galactose (3.0%), glucose (15.5%), mannose (8.3%), arabinose (30.4%), xylose (7.6%), fucose (2.6%), rhamnose (6.7%), and uronic acids (8.0%) has been isolated from the aerial parts of sage (Salvia officinalis L.) by cold water extraction. It showed a broad molecular-mass distribution pattern (M-w similar to 2000-93 000) with a predominance of polymers with M-w < 10 000. Ion-exchange chromatography of A afforded six polymeric fractions (A(1)-A(6)) in which arabinogalactans associated with galacturonan and/or rhamnogalacturonan backbones prevail. Sage polysaccharides were examined for their immunomodulatory activity in the comitogenic thymocyte test which is interpreted as being an in vitro correlate of adjuvant activity. The acidic polysaccharide fractions A(2), A(3) and A(4) exhibited the highest mitogenic and comitogenic activities of all fractions tested, and relatively high SIcomit/SImit ratios similar to3 indicate potential adjuvant properties of these polysaccharides. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.