红枣多糖微结构的原子力显微镜观测

Observation of ultrafine structure of polysaccharides from jujube with atomic force microscope

应用原子力显微镜,对红枣多糖的微观形貌进行了观测研究,给出最佳观察方法.发现其单个分子链及其多个侧枝、聚合物链分子间互相缠绕,链间通过糖单元间不同的连接方式衍生出许多聚集体,大小在150～300nm范围内,从而直接证实了多糖大分子具有高度分枝的化学结构.同时发现红枣多糖两股糖链呈螺旋型紧密排列、多个糖链缠绕成股的情况,提示多糖在结构上可能存在类似蛋白质的自组装现象.

The fine microstructures of the polysaccharides from jujube in North Yulin Area of Shaanxi Province is studied with the contact mode atomic force microscope（AFM）. In the proper experimental condition, it＇s clearly visible that the main single molecular chains and their side-chain of the polymer on the AFM topography, in which, the polymeric chains can be twisted with each other, and then function into plenty of aggregation in the size of 150-300 nm following the last manner, which might directly demonstrate that polysaccharides＇ macromolecules tend to be in the high branching state. In addition to the topography, there are also some tight arrangements in the double chain of jujube polysaccharides, which can easily illuminate that there are protein-like self-assemble processes in the aggregation of polysaccharides.