Protective effects of water-soluble low-molecular-weight β-(1,3-1,6)D-glucan purified from Aureobasidium pullulans GM-NH-1A1 against UFT toxicity in mice

Biological Activity of High-Purity β-1,3-1,6-Glucan Derived from the Black Yeast Aureobasidium pullulans: A Literature Review

The black yeast Aureobasidium pullulans produces abundant soluble β-1,3-1,6-glucan-a functional food ingredient with known health benefits. For use as a food material, soluble β-1,3-1,6-glucan is produced via fermentation using sucrose as the carbon source. Various functionalities of β-1,3-1,6-glucan have been reported, including its immunomodulatory effect, particularly in the intestine. It also exhibits antitumor and antimetastatic effects, alleviates influenza and food allergies, and relieves stress. Moreover, it reduces the risk of lifestyle-related diseases by protecting the intestinal mucosa, reducing fat, lowering postprandial blood glucose, promoting bone health, and healing gastric ulcers. Furthermore, it induces heat shock protein 70. Clinical studies have reported the antiallergic and triglyceride-reducing effects of β-1,3-1,6-glucan, which are indicators of improvement in lifestyle-related diseases. The primary and higher-order structures of β-1,3-1,6-glucan have been elucidated. Specifically, it comprises a single highly-branched glucose residue with the β-1,6 bond (70% or more) on a backbone of glucose with 1,3-β bonds. β-Glucan shows a triple helical structure, and studies on its use as a drug delivery system have been actively conducted. β-Glucan in combination with anti-inflammatory substances or fullerenes can be used to target macrophages. Based on its health functionality, β-1,3-1,6-glucan is an interesting material as both food and medicine.

Protective effect of β-(1,3 → 1,6)-d-glucan against irritant-induced gastric lesions

β-(1,3)-d-Glucan with β-(1,6) branches has been reported to have various pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumour and anti-infection activities, which result from its immunomodulating effects. Gastric lesions result from an imbalance between aggressive and defensive factors. In the present study, we examined the effect of β-(1,3)-d-glucan with β-(1,6) branches isolated fromAureobasidium pullulanson the gastric ulcerogenic response in mice. Oral administration of β-glucan ameliorated gastric lesions induced by ethanol (EtOH) or HCl. This administration of β-glucan also suppressed EtOH-induced inflammatory responses, such as infiltration of neutrophils and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and cell adhesion molecules (CAM) at the gastric mucosa. Of the various defensive factors, the levels of heat shock protein (HSP) 70 and mucin but not PGE2were increased by the administration of β-glucan. β-Glucan-dependent induction of the expression of HSP70 and mucin proteins and suppression of the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and CAM were also observed in cultured cellsin vitro.The results of the present study suggest that β-glucan protects the gastric mucosa from the formation of irritant-induced lesions by increasing the levels of defensive factors, such as HSP70 and mucin.