Evaluation of the anti-fatigue activity of Schisandra chinensis polysaccharides

Abstract Schisandra chinensis is a medicative and food plant in China, wealthy during a variety of functional components and wealthy during pharmacological activities. The specific aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-fatigue properties of Schisandra chinensis polysaccharides (SCP). It was first structurally characterized using FTIR and UV, followed by weight-loaded swimming test and determination of several fatigue-related biochemical indices in mice after exhaustion to evaluate the anti-fatigue ability of SCP. The results showed that SCP is a protein-bound polysaccharide, and it significantly prolonged swimming time, increased liver glycogen and muscle glycogen content, decreased lactate (LA), Blood urea nitrogen (BUN), malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, and increased glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities. Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a good correlation between the in vivo anti-fatigue effect and antioxidant activity of SCP. Therefore, SCP can be applied as a potential anti-fatigue nutritional supplement in functional foods for the relief of exercise-related fatigue.