Physical characteristics and antioxidant effect of polysaccharides extracted by boiling water and enzymolysis from Grifola frondosa

Grifola frondosa has been widely consumed in China and other Asian countries. Recent studies on G. frondosa have focused on the activities of polysaccharides extracted by water, and the activities of polysaccharides extracted by enzymolysis have not been studied. In this work, the relationship between the physical properties and antioxidant activity of polysaccharides extracted from G. frondosa by boiling water and enzymolysis was studied. Five polysaccharide extracts from the fruit body of G. frondosa were prepared by different extracting methods including boiling water, single enzyme enzymolysis with three different single enzymes (cellulose, pectinase, and pancreatin), and combined enzyme enzymolysis (cellulose:pectinase:pancreatin; 2:2:1). Characteristics such as the viscosity, Mw, polysaccharide content, protein content, infrared spectra, and antioxidant activities of the extracts were evaluated. The highest antioxidant activity was exhibited by the extracts prepared by combined enzyme extraction. The correlation analysis between antioxidant activity and polysaccharide content, protein content, Mw or viscosity indicated that the Mw had a more important role in antioxidant activity. Overall, the results indicate that the combined enzyme polysaccharide extracts can be developed as a new potential natural antioxidant.