Structural properties, bioactivities, structure-activity relationships and bio-applications of polysaccharides from Auricularia auricula: A review

Auricularia auricula (A. auricula), is a medicinal and edible fungus in China for thousands of years with rich nutrition and delicious taste. The main active ingredient of A. auricula is polysaccharide, which has antitumor, hypoglycemic, antioxidant, and immune regulation bioactivities. It is widely recognized that the biological activity of polysaccharides is closely related to the chemical structure and advanced structure. In terms of polysaccharides extracted from A. auricula (AAPs), there were distinguished structures reported due to the different original resources and extraction methods, leading to various bioactivities. However, the structure-activity relationship of AAPs has scarcely been reviewed till now. In addition, polysaccharides were found to have specific self-assembly properties recently, together with their bioactivities, endowing them with unique physicochemical properties. Nowadays, an increasing number of polysaccharides, such as cellulose, chitin, and pectin, have been used to construct various functional materials in the fields of food, cosmetics, and biomedical materials. Therefore, the construction of functional materials by AAPs is of great research significance. This article aims to provide a systematic review of the structure-activity relationship of AAPs and summarize the functional materials constructed based on AAPs to provide theoretical references for further research and application of AAPs.