Brochu M, Lafrance CP, Landry E, Maheux M. Isolation and characterization of major polysaccharides from maple sugar. Bioactive Carbohydrates and Dietary Fibre. 2019, 17:100174. doi.org/10.1016/j.bcdf.2018.11.001
Abstract
Maple sugar is a product derived from maple sap that is used in North America diet for its exquisite taste or in replacement of cane sugar and other sugar substitutes. Previous researches have demonstrated that maple sugar has beneficial properties in the treatment of diabetes and other metabolic disorders which could be related to the presence of oligosaccharides or polysaccharides. Polysaccharides in maple sugar were isolated by solid-phase extraction, dialysis (D), tangential flow filtration (T) and size-exclusion chromatography. Their structure was characterized by the analysis of monosaccharide composition and the determination of their molecular weight. In most fractions, fructose was present in majority, which suggests the presence of fructan polysaccharides like inulin. Also, some fractions are composed of a mixture of arabinogalactans and dextrans. The two purificationsproduced polysaccharides fractions in a wide range of molecular weights. Tangential flow filtration was the most effective purification technique for the isolation of polysaccharides.
