Research progress on polysaccharide components of Cistanche deserticola as potential pharmaceutical agents

Cistanche deserticola is a traditional and precious Chinese herbal medicine, known as "desert ginseng", with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, improving immunity, nourishing the kidneys and other pharmacological effects. Its chemical components mainly include phenylethanol glycosides, iridoids, polysaccharides and volatile components, among which polysaccharides have received extensive attention due to their biological activities such as regulating immune activity, anti-aging, anti-spleen deficiency and antitumor. In recent years, a large number of research have been carried out on the extraction and isolation, chemical structure analysis and biological activity of Cistanche deserticola polysaccharides. The methods of polysaccharide extraction mainly include traditional extraction method, ultrasonic assisted method, microwave assisted method and enzyme assisted method, etc. The extracted polysaccharides were analyzed by chemical methods including methylation, acid hydrolysis and Smith degradation and spectroscopy methods such as NMR and IR. A variety of polysaccharides with new structures were obtained, and some polysaccharides with known structures were also investigated for their biological activities and their structure-activity relationships. However, the relationship between polysaccharides structure and their biological activities is still unclear due to the large number of polysaccharide components, their complex structures and the lack of systematic research and analysis on them. It is expected that the subsequent study of polysaccharide structure and active conformational relationship will be highly valuable for the application of Cistanche deserticola in pharmaceutical sciences and health food.