Simultaneous Use of Stimulatory Agents to Enhance the Production and Hypoglycaemic Activity of Polysaccharides from Inonotus obliquus by Submerged Fermentation

This study aimed to determine the effect of applying stimulatory agents to liquid cultured Inonotus obliquus on the simultaneous accumulation of exo-polysaccharides (EPS) and their monosaccharide composition. Different stimulatory agents (VB6, VB1, betulin and birch extract) were investigated for their effects on active exo-polysaccharides by submerged fermentation of I. obliquus. The mycelial biomass, reducing sugar content, EPS yield and α-glucosidase inhibition rate were determined, and the EPS obtained was analyzed for monosaccharide composition. The results showed that the addition of all the four stimulatory agents could significantly increase the inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase of EPS than the control, whereas EPS from 4 μg/mL VB1-containing medium had the best effect with an estimated IC50 value 24.34 μg/mL. Among the four stimulatory agents, VB6 gave maximum production of mycelial biomass and EPS at the concentration of 4 μg/mL with a increase of 50.79% and 114.46%, respectively. In addition, betulin had a significant effect on increasing the EPS yield and activity, and birch extract had a significantly stimulatory effect on the mycelial growth and the polysaccharides activity, only slightly worse than VB6 and VB1. Moreover, the addition of different stimulatory agents changed the monosaccharide composition of polysaccharides, which had a correlation with polysaccharide activity.