Preparation and Characterization of Strychnos potatorum L. Seed Polysaccharide Nanoparticles and Affinity Matrices: Relevance to Biological Applications

摘要

The genus Strychnos is well known for its phytochemistry and is distributed throughout the tropics. Experiments conducted with the Strychnos potatorum seed meal revealed the presence of coagulant proteins, glycosidases as well as some polysaccharides. In a recent study we confirmed that some proteins in the extract have the ability to bind cadmium. Additionally some glycosidase activities were also detected among which only a-mannosidase was predominant. Additionally polysaccharides such as the Galactomannan and Galactan are also found in these seeds which we isolated and purified by gel filtration to make nanoparticles as in recent years, naturally occurring polysaccharides in nanoparticle forms are being used in various fields of biology and medicine. Nanoparticles were prepared for the two isolated polysaccharides separately and characterized by AFM, SEM and TEM. The size of the nanoparticles ranged from 37-100 nm (galactan) and 45 nm to 110 nm (galactomannan). The polysaccharides prepared when immobilized to Seralose gel were found to specifically bind galactose specific lectins from Dolichos lablab seeds and snake gourd seeds.