In recent decades, the polysaccharides from the medicinal plants have attracted a lot of attention due to their significant bioactivities, such as anti-tumor activity, antioxidant activity, anticoagulant activity, antidiabetic activity, radioprotection effect, anti-viral activity, hypolipidemic and immunomodulatory activities, which make them suitable for medicinal applications. Previous studies have also shown that medicinal plant polysaccharides are non-toxic and show no side effects. Based on these encouraging observations, most researches have been focusing on the isolation and identification of polysaccharides, as well as their bioactivities. A large number of bioactive polysaccharides with different structural features and biological effects from medicinal plants have been purified and characterized. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the most recent developments in physiochemical, structural features and biological activities of bioactive polysaccharides from a number of important medicinal plants, such as polysaccharides from Astragalus membranaceus, Dendrobium plants, Bupleurum, Cactus fruits, Acanthopanax senticosus, Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels, Aloe barbadensis Miller, and Dimocarpus longan Lour. Moreover, the paper has also been focused on the applications of bioactive polysaccharides for medicinal applications. Recent studies have provided evidence that polysaccharides from medicinal plants can play a vital role in bioactivities. The contents and data will serve as a useful reference material for further investigation, production, and application of these polysaccharides in functional foods and therapeutic agents.

Advances on Bioactive Polysaccharides from Medicinal Plants

http://repositorio.uchile.cl/bitstream/handle/2250/120215/Sepulveda_E.pdf?sequence=1

Extraction and characterization of mucilage in Opuntia spp.

Metal and polymer based materials are the conventional coagulants used in water and wastewater treatment operations. Despite the wide applicability of these genera of coagulants, the challenges associated with the usage have engendered research efforts towards the development of green biobased coagulants, whose applications are capable of obviating the challenges synonymous with the usage of these conventional coagulants. Taking into cognizance the goals that informed the development of green technology, perspectives on the promising non-conventional coagulants that are green and biobased are presented in this treatise. The perspectives on these green biobased coagulants were anchored on the background information of the material, the economic importance, mode of application of the extract as coagulant, underlying coagulating mechanism and the shortcomings of the usage in water and wastewater treatment operations. On the basis of the information provided by different researchers, on the appraisals of these green biobased coagulants for water and wastewater treatment operations, the factors militating against the transition of the applications of these non-conventional coagulants from bench-scale to real life applications were discussed.

Oriette Zárate

Papers

Chemical characterization of the mucilage from fruits of Opuntia ficus indica