VI
Contents
Section 2
Physical and Chemical Characteristics
of Polysaccharides 227
Chapter 9
The Molecular Structure and Conformational Dynamics
of Chitosan Polymers: An Integrated Perspective
from Experiments and Computational Simulations 229
Richard A. Cunha, Thereza A. Soares, Victor H. Rusu,
Frederico J.S. Pontes, Eduardo F. Franca and Roberto D. Lins
Chapter 10
Concept of Template Synthesis of Proteoglycans 257
Aleksandr N. Zimnitskii
Chapter 11
Coupled Mass Spectrometric Strategies
for the Determination of Carbohydrates at Very Low
Concentrations: The Case of Polysaccharides Involved in
the Molecular Dialogue Between Plants and Rhizobia 305
V. Poinsot, M.A. Carpéné and F. Couderc
Chapter 12
Diatom Polysaccharides: Extracellular Production,
Isolation and Molecular Characterization 345
Ranieri Urbani, Paola Sist, Galja Pletikapić,
Tea Mišić Radić, Vesna Svetličić and Vera Žutić
Chapter 13
Exopolysaccharides of the Biofilm Matrix:
A Complex Biophysical World 371
Pierre Lembre, Cécile Lorentz and Patrick Di Martino
Section 3
Applications in the Food Industry 393
Chapter 14
Polysaccharide-Protein Interactions and
Their Relevance in Food Colloids 395
Amit K. Ghosh and Prasun Bandyopadhyay
Chapter 15
Chitosan: A Bioactive Polysaccharide
in Marine-Based Foods 409
Alireza Alishahi
Chapter 16
Polysaccharides as Carriers and Protectors
of Additives and Bioactive Compounds in Foods 429
Rosa M. Raybaudi-Massilia and Jonathan Mosqueda-Melgar
Chapter 17
Dietary Fiber and Availability of Nutrients:
A Case Study on Yoghurt as a Food Model 455
Marina Dello Staffolo, Alicia E. Bevilacqua,
María Susana Rodríguez and Liliana Albertengo
Chapter 18
Plant Biotechnology for
the Development of Design Starches 491
María Victoria Busi, Mariana Martín and Diego F. Gomez-Casati
Contents VII
Section 4
Applications in the Pharmaceutical Industry 511
Chapter 19
Bioactive Polysaccharides of American Ginseng Panax
quinquefolius L. in Modulation of Immune Function:
Phytochemical and Pharmacological Characterization 513
Edmund M. K. Lui, Chike G. Azike, José A. Guerrero-Analco,
Ahmad A. Romeh,
Hua Pei, Sherif J. Kaldas,
John T. Arnason and Paul A. Charpentier
Chapter 20
Polysaccharides from Red Algae:
Genesis of a Renaissance 535
María Josefina Carlucci, Cecilia Gabriela Mateu,
María Carolina Artuso and Luis Alberto Scolaro
Chapter 21
1,3--Glucans: Drug Delivery and Pharmacology 555
Mohit S. Verma and Frank X. Gu
Chapter 22
Complexes of Polysaccharides and Glycyrrhizic Acid
with Drug Molecules − Mechanochemical Synthesis
and Pharmacological Activity 573
A. V. Dushkin, T. G. Tolstikova, M. V. Khvostov and G. A. Tolstikov
Chapter 23
The Chitosan as Dietary Fiber: An in vitro Comparative Study
of Interactions with Drug and Nutritional Substances 603
Máira Regina Rodrigues, Alexandre de Souza e Silva
and Fábio Vieira Lacerda
Chapter 24
The Future of Synthetic Carbohydrate Vaccines:
Immunological Studies on Streptococcus pneumoniae
Type 14 617
Dodi Safari, Ger Rijkers and Harm Snippe
Preface
When I was invited by InTech Open Access Publisher to edit a book on
polysaccharides, I accepted the challenge since to me polysaccharides constitute a
wide variety of biological polymers with diverse composition, physical characteristics
and biological activity and have been the focus of my research career. These naturally
occurring entities have been studied for their chemical and physical properties and
more recently for bioactivity. They have been used in the food industry for functions
such as thickeners and protective coatings. Industrial uses of polysaccharides in
cosmetics, textiles and medicines are based on rheological, emulsifying and stabilizing
properties of polysaccharides. Even though carbohydrates have a long history of
chemical and physical study, properties of polysaccharides with relation to structure
activity/function has not been an area of in depth study. Polysaccharides of bacterial
origin however gained interest in the 1980’s due to their potential as vaccine
formulations. Therefore the detailed chemical structures of capsular polysaccharides,
LPS and exopolysaccharides were elucidated leading to discovery of new naturally
occurring sugars. The plant derived polysaccharides such as the hemicelluloses and
starch and other specific polysaccharides such as inulin, beta glucans, alginates and
pectins are very well documented and have been studied over a longer period of time.
Other than the chemical and physical properties of the polysaccharides, the genetic
involvements of the biosynthetic processes which imparts specificity to the structure
and thereby its action, have also warranted much study leading to a better
understanding of the structure activity relationship. Thus the areas of study of
polysaccharides cover several disciplines. In compiling this book, the contributions on
polysaccharides from diverse sources such as animals, plants and microorganisms
were received and sectioned according to their properties and applications.
The first section deals with sources of polysaccharides and their biological properties.
A wide range of polysaccharides from bacterial origin to plants and lichens are
presented along with their biological applications. The many applications of chitosan,
the most abundant polysaccharide of animal origin, in areas from food, medicine,
agriculture, pharmacy and other industries is revisited in the first chapter. The second
chapter focusses on glucan polysaccharides, abundantly produced by microorganisms,
having properties valuable in food uses. Here the yeast cell wall derived glucans and
their products with applications in the food and health industries are presented.