galactomannan and arabinogalactan

Certain plant polysaccharides may provide psychological health benefits. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether they can acutely improve mood and cognitive function.. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, between subjects design trial, 73 middle-aged adults consumed 4 g of a proprietary mixture of non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) (Ambrotose® complex), a rice flour placebo, or a sucrose control. Participants completed testing at baseline and 30 minutes post-consumption. Acute effects of consumption on mood, cognition, and blood glucose were evaluated during mental tests designed to induce mental fatigue.. Significant improvement in recognition and working memory performance was observed in the group that consumed NSP compared with placebo or sucrose. Improvements in memory performance following NSP intake were independent of changes in blood glucose.. This is the first report of acute behavioural improvement following plant polysaccharide intake in healthy middle-aged adults under conditions of mental fatigue. The findings suggest that certain NSP may enhance memory performance through mechanisms other than elevated blood glucose.

Topics: Aging; Cognitive Dysfunction; Cohort Studies; Dietary Supplements; Double-Blind Method; Female; Galactans; Galactose; Glucosamine; Humans; Male; Mannans; Memory, Short-Term; Mental Fatigue; Middle Aged; Nootropic Agents; Performance-Enhancing Substances; Polysaccharides; Recognition, Psychology

Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are plant proteoglycans with functions in growth and development. However, these functions are largely unexplored, mainly because of the complexity of the sugar moieties. These carbohydrate sequences are generally analyzed with the aid of glycoside hydrolases. The exo-β-1,3-galactanase is a glycoside hydrolase from the basidiomycete

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Catalytic Domain; Crystallography, X-Ray; Fungal Proteins; Galactans; Galactose; Glycoside Hydrolases; Mannans; Phanerochaete; Sequence Homology; Substrate Specificity

In order to better understand the thermal stability of spent coffee grounds (SCG) galactomannans and arabinogalactans and the reactions that can occur upon roasting, long term isothermal exposures, up to 3h, were performed at 160, 180, 200, 220, and 240 °C. The resultant products were analysed according to the sugars and linkage composition and also by electrospray mass spectrometry. Galactomannans did not loss mass at T ≤ 200 °C during exposures up to 3h whereas the arabinogalactans showed that thermal stability only for T ≤ 180 °C. This was in accordance with the estimated activation energies of their thermal decomposition of 138 kJ/mol and 94 kJ/mol, respectively. The roasting of galactomannans promoted the formation of new glycosidic linkages, with occurrence of 2-, 6-, 2,3-, 2,6-, 3,6-, 2,3,6-, 3,4,6-linked mannose residues, 3,4,6-linked galactose residues, and terminally-linked glucose residues, observed by methylation analysis. Depolymerisation and formation of anhydrohexose residues at the reducing end and mannose-glucose isomerisation were also observed. The roasting of galactomannans at 200 °C promoted their solubility in water upon alkali extraction and neutralisation.

Topics: Coffee; Drug Stability; Food Handling; Galactans; Galactose; Mannans; Solubility; Temperature; Water

Aiming to investigate the possible occurrence of transglycosylation reactions between galactomannans and side chains of arabinogalactans during coffee roasting, mixtures of β-(1 → 4)-D-mannotriose and α-(1 → 5)-L-arabinotriose were subjected to dry thermal treatments at 200 °C. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) analysis allowed identifying polysaccharides composed by pentose and hexose residues with a degree of polymerization up to 18 residues. Methylation analysis showed the occurrence of new types of glycosidic linkages in all thermally treated mixtures, as well as the occurrence of terminally and 5-linked ribose, possibly formed from arabinose isomerization. Also, xylose and lyxose were identified and proposed to be formed from mannose. These results support the occurrence of transglycosylation reactions promoted by roasting involving both oligosaccharides in the starting mixtures, resulting in arabinan and mannan chimeric polysaccharides. These structural features were also found in roasted coffee polysaccharide samples.

Topics: Carbohydrate Conformation; Coffee; Food Handling; Galactans; Galactose; Glycosylation; Hot Temperature; Hydrolysis; Mannans; Oligosaccharides; Oxidation-Reduction; Pentoses; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Trisaccharides

The spent coffee grounds (SCG) are a food industry by-product that can be used as a rich source of polysaccharides. In the present work, the feasibility of microwave superheated water extraction of polysaccharides from SCG was studied. Different ratios of mass of SCG to water, from 1:30 to 1:5 (g:mL) were used for a total volume of 80 mL. Although the amount of material extracted/batch (MAE1) increased with the increase of the concentration of the sample, the amount of polysaccharides achieved a maximum of 0.57 g/batch for 1:10. Glycosidic-linkage composition showed that all extraction conditions allowed to obtain mainly arabinogalactans. When the unextracted insoluble material was re-extracted under the same conditions (MAE2), a further extraction of polysaccharides was observed (0.34 g/batch for 1:10), mainly galactomannans. Also, a high amount of oligosaccharides, mainly derived from galactomannans, can be obtained in MAE2 (0.96 g/batch for 1:10). This technology allows to obtain galactomannans and arabinogalactans in proportions that are dependent on the operating conditions.

Topics: Carbohydrate Conformation; Coffee; Ethanol; Fractional Precipitation; Galactans; Galactose; Hot Temperature; Mannans; Microwaves; Polysaccharides; Solid Phase Extraction; Solvents; Waste Products; Water

Different classes of fibres differ in their potential to lower lipid levels. In order to examine how chemically diverse fibres differ in their hypolipidaemic activity, mucilages of varying chemical composition isolated from three different sources were administered to experimental animals and the metabolism of lipids and lipoproteins was studied. The mucilages used were a galactomannan isolated from fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) seeds, a glucomannan from Dioscorea esculenta tubers and an arabinogalactan from Colocasia esculenta tubers. Rats were fed these mucilages at a dose of 4 mg/100 g body weight per d for 8 weeks and the changes in the levels of total cholesterol and triacylglycerols in serum, liver and aorta were analysed. All these mucilages decreased lipid levels both in serum and tissues. Among these mucilages, glucomannan showed the most hypolipidaemic effect followed by galactomannan and arabinogalactan. Further, hepatocytes were isolated from the livers of mucilage-fed rats and the synthesis and secretion of lipoproteins were studied using metabolic labelling. There was a decrease in the synthesis and secretion of apoB-containing lipoproteins, mainly VLDL, by hepatocytes isolated from mucilage-fed rats when compared to control (P<0.05). This was further confirmed by pulse chase analysis. Among the different mucilages, mannose-rich glucomannan showed the most effect followed by galactomannan, and mannose-free arabinogalactan showed minimal effect. Comparison of relative viscosity and water-holding capacity showed that mannan-rich mucilages like galactomannan and glucomannan, which showed greater hypolipidaemic effect, had greater relative viscosity and water-holding capacity. The present results suggested that the hypolipidaemic effect of dietary fibre involves a decrease in hepatic production of VLDL and further that it varies with the nature of the fibre.

Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Aorta; Apolipoproteins B; Cells, Cultured; Cholesterol; Chromatography, Thin Layer; Dietary Fiber; Galactans; Galactose; Hepatocytes; Lipids; Lipoproteins; Lipoproteins, VLDL; Male; Mannans; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Triglycerides

The hot-water-soluble polymeric material from green and roasted Uganda robusta coffees submitted to different degrees of roasting was isolated and characterized, and the changes in structure and amount of galactomannans and arabinogalactans were determined and discussed in relation to the data already available for arabica coffees, obtained under the same experimental conditions. The content of arabinogalactans extracted from robusta green coffee was higher than that extracted from arabica. For roasted coffees, the amount of galactomannans extracted ranged from 0.66% to 0.92% (w/w). These values were near 50% of those obtained from the arabica coffees using the same extraction procedure. However, the amount of arabinogalactans extracted from robusta coffees (0.56-0.72%) was in the range obtained from arabica. The structures of arabinogalactans and galactomannans extracted from green and roasted coffees were not sufficiently different between robusta and arabica coffees to explain the observed differences in extraction yields for the arabinogalactans from green coffees and for the galactomannans from roasted coffees. The total polysaccharide content and the structures of the galactomannans and arabinogalactans in the two green coffee varieties investigated were also very similar. These differences in the extraction of high-molecular-weight polysaccharides between arabica and robusta roasted coffees may be related to the different susceptibility of the cell walls during the roasting process, known to result in a different porosity between arabica and robusta roasted coffees.

Topics: Chemical Fractionation; Coffea; Ethanol; Galactans; Galactose; Hot Temperature; Mannans; Molecular Weight; Plant Extracts; Polysaccharides; Seeds; Species Specificity; Uganda; Water

The degree and nature of polysaccharide degradation at different roasting levels was determined for three Arabica (Coffea arabica) bean varieties. Between 12 and 40% of the bean polysaccharides were degraded depending on the roasting conditions. The thermal stability of the arabinogalactans, (galacto)mannans and cellulose was markedly different. The arabinogalactans and mannans were degraded up to 60 and 36%, respectively, after a dark roast, while cellulose showed negligible evidence of degradation. Roasting led to increased solubility of both the arabinogalactans and (galacto)mannans from the bean but the structural modifications, which accompanied this change in solubility, were different for each polysaccharide. Despite the moderate degradation of the (galacto)mannans, those remaining in the bean after roasting showed no evidence of change to their molecular weight even after a dark roast. In contrast, arabinogalactans were depolymerised after a light roast both by fission of the galactan backbone and loss of arabinose from the sidechains. The recently discovered covalent link between the coffee bean arabinogalactans and protein survived roasting. The glucuronic acid component of the AG was degraded markedly after a dark roast, but approximately 30% of the original content remained as part of the AG polymer. The results show that polysaccharide degradation during roasting is more marked than previously documented, and points to roasting induced changes to the polysaccharides as major factors in the changing physicochemical profile of the coffee bean during processing.

Topics: Carbohydrate Conformation; Cell Wall; Coffee; Food Handling; Galactans; Galactose; Hot Temperature; Mannans; Molecular Weight; Mucoproteins; Plant Proteins; Polysaccharides; Solubility

Galactomannans and arabinogalactans compose almost exclusively the polysaccharide fraction of roasted coffee infusions. To increase the knowledge about the effect of the degree of roast (DR) in the amount and chemical structure of the galactomannans and arabinogalactans, two arabica coffees of different geographical origins (Costa Rica and Brazil) were roasted for three degrees of roast (DRs 4.7-5.0, 8.7, and 10% of dry weight loss of green coffee beans, on a dry basis). The high molecular weight material was extracted with hot water and dialyzed (molecular weight cutoff >12 kDa), and the material was separated in three cold-water-soluble fractions by graded addition of ethanol. The degree of polymerization and the degree of branching of the galactomannans decreased with the increase of the DR. As the DR increased, less branched arabinogalactans were extracted. The relative amount of terminally linked arabinosyl residues of the arabinogalactans decreased with the increase in DR, and the terminally linked galactosyl residues increased. Also, the size of the arabinosyl side chains of the arabinogalactans decreased with the increase in DR.

Topics: Chemical Fractionation; Chromatography, Gel; Coffee; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Ethanol; Galactans; Galactose; Hot Temperature; Mannans; Methylation; Molecular Weight; Solubility; Water

Two independent procedures for the quantitative determination of the polysaccharide content of Arabica Caturra (Coffea arabica var. Caturra) and Robusta ROM (Coffea canephora var. ROM) green coffee beans showed that they both contained identical amounts of polysaccharide. Cell wall material (CWM) was prepared from the beans and partial solubilisation of component polysaccharides was effected by sequential extraction with water, 1 M KOH, 0.3% NaClO2, 4 M KOH and 8 M KOH. The monosaccharide compositions of the CWMs were similar, although Arabica beans contained slightly more mannose than Robusta. In the latter, more arabinogalactan was solubilised during preparation of the CWM and the water-soluble fraction of the CWM contained higher amounts of galactomannan than in Arabica. Linkage analysis indicated that the galactomannans possessed unbranched to branched mannose ratios between 14:1 and 30:1 which is higher than previously reported. No major difference in the structural features of the galactomannans between species was found. The arabinogalactans were heterogeneous both with regard to the degree of branching and the degree of polymerisation of their arabinan side-chains. Compared to Arabica, Robusta appeared to contain greater amounts of arabinogalactans with longer side chains. It is concluded that there was no detectable difference between the Arabica and Robusta varieties of this study in their absolute polysaccharide content or in the gross structural features of their galactomannans. Differences were apparent both in the structural features and ease of solubility of the arabinogalactans but a more detailed study of several varieties of Arabica and Robusta will be required to determine whether these differences occur consistently between species.

Topics: Carbohydrate Conformation; Chromatography, Gel; Coffee; Galactans; Galactose; Mannans; Mannose; Monosaccharides; Polysaccharides; Solubility