Physicochemical Characterization of a Fern Polysaccharide from Alsophila spinulosa Leaf and Its Anti‐Aging Activity in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract Alsophila spinulosa , as a rare tree fern with potential medicinal value, has attracted extensive attention. Herein, the physicochemical properties, antioxidant and anti‐aging activities of polysaccharide from A. spinulosa leaf (ALP) were investigated. ALP was composed of galactose, arabinose, glucose, rhamnose, galacturonic acid, mannose, and fucose. (1→), (1→6), and (1→2) bond types were the primary glycosidic bond in ALP. Surprisingly, ALP displayed the wonderful activity of antioxidant and anti‐aging, including excellent scavenging ability against DPPH and ABTS radicals in vitro ; prolonging the life span, improving activity of antioxidative enzymes (SOD and CAT), and decreasing the level of ROS, MDA in Caenorhabditis elegans . Meanwhile, ALP promoted DAF‐16 to move into the nuclear. Overall, our results illustrated that ALP could be further developed as a functional food ingredient.