Antioxidant activity and characterization of antioxidant polysaccharides from pine needle (Cedrus deodara)

A novel antioxidant polysaccharide (APC) was isolated and characterized from pine needles of Cedrus deodara with the evaluation of its in vitro antioxidant activity. According to gel filtration chromatography, high performance size exclusion chromatography, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, partial acid hydrolysis, periodic acid oxidation, Smith degradation and methylation analysis, APC was observed to be an acidic heteropolysaccharide (composed of glucose, arabinose, mannose and xylose in a molar ratio of 45.84:1:2.35:1.73) with the molecular weight of 1.53 × 104 Da, and the backbone was mainly composed by glucose, mannose and xylose in the form of (1 → 4) linked. Meanwhile, APC exhibited the remarkable antioxidant activity to scavenge free radicals and inhibit the oxidative injury of DNA and cells. The present results suggested that APC could be a potential antioxidant agent for preparing functional foods and nutraceuticals applied in food and pharmaceutical industries.