Study on semi-bionic extraction of Astragalus polysaccharide and its anti-aging activity in vivo

Abstract

Astragalus membranaceus (A. membranaceus) is a homologous plant with high medicinal and edible value. Therefore, the extraction methods of Astragalus polysaccharide (APS) have attracted the attention of many research groups, but the yield of the active components is still not high. The aim of this study was to extract APS by a semi-bionic extraction method, optimize the extraction process, and evaluate the anti-aging activities of APS in vivo. The results showed that the APS yield was 18.23% when extracted by the semi-bionic extraction method. Anti-aging evaluation in rats showed that APS extracted by this method significantly decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity to cope with D-galactose-induced aging. Serum metabolomic analysis indicated that a total of 48 potential biomarkers showed significant differences, mainly involving 5 metabolic pathways. These altered metabolic pathways were mainly related to energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and lipid metabolism. These results indicated that the semi-bionic extraction method can effectively improve the yield of APS, and the extracted APS exhibited anti-aging activity in rats. Our study provided a novel and effective method to extract APS and indicated that APS can be used as functional food and natural medicine to delay aging and prevent its complications.

Keywords: Astragalus polysaccharide; D-galactose; anti-aging; antioxidant; purification; separation.

Figure 1

Analysis of variance of each factor of the orthogonal experiment. The results were displayed as the mean ± SD. Different lowercase letters a, b and c indicate significant differences at the p < 0.05 level.

Figure 2

Scanning electron microscopy results of the purified APS. Panel (A) showed the results under a 2,400× magnification microscope, and the purified APS were stacked irregularly in sheets or fragments. Panel (B) showed the results at 10,000× magnification; the polysaccharide exhibits bulk and rod-like structures with the presence of spherical particles.

Figure 3

PCA score plot of rat serum. PCA was performed using SIMCA-P 14.1 for rat serum metabolites. (A) Positive ion mode; (B) negative ion mode; Control: control group; Model: set of models; QC: quality control sample; Y: Astragalus polysaccharide high-dose group.

Figure 4

OPLS-DA score of serum of the model group and control group. The OPLS-DA model was used to compare the serum metabolites of different groups, and the OPLS-DA score map of serum metabolites of the model group and the blank group was calculated. (A) Positive ion mode; (B) negative ion mode; Control: control group; Model: set of models.

Figure 5

OPLS-DA score of serum of administration group and model group. The OPLS-DA model was used to compare the serum metabolites of different groups, and the OPLS-DA score plots of serum metabolites of rats in the administration and model groups. (A) Positive ion mode; (B) negative ion mode; Model: set of models; Y: Astragalus polysaccharide high-dose group.

Figure 6

Differential metabolic pathway analysis of model group and control group. The relevant thresholds were set as follows: −log (P) > 1.0 and pathway impact value >0.2. The ordinate represents −log (P), and the darker the color, the higher the significance level. The horizontal axis represents the importance of metabolic pathways, and the larger the circle, the more important the pathway. Three metabolic pathways were interfered, namely, phenylalanine metabolism; Biosynthesis of phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan; Glycerol phospholipid metabolism.

Figure 7

Differential metabolic pathway analysis of model group and administration group. The relevant thresholds were set as follows: −log (P) > 1.0 and pathway impact value >0.2. The ordinate represents −log (P), and the darker the color, the higher the significance level. The horizontal axis represents the importance of metabolic pathways, and the larger the circle, the more important the pathway. Five metabolic pathways were interfered: phenylalanine metabolism; Biosynthesis of phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan; Niacin and niacinamide metabolism; Glycerol phospholipid metabolism; Alanine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid metabolism.