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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1562839
Ultrasound-Assisted H₂O₂ Degradation Enhances the Bioactivity of Schizophyllan for Wound Healing and Tissue Regeneration
Provisionally accepted- Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
Schizophyllan (SPG), a bioactive polysaccharide from Schizophyllum commune, possesses significant anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory properties. The molecular weight of polysaccharides significantly impacts their structural properties and biological functions. However, the functional characteristics of low molecular weight polysaccharides derived from Schizophyllum commune remain inadequately explored. Thus, this study developed an ultrasound-assisted hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) degradation method to produce low-molecular-weight SPG with enhanced bioactivity. The process was optimized using response surface methodology, focusing on ultrasound duration, ultrasonic power, and H₂O₂ concentration. This approach effectively reduced the molecular weight of SPG from 4,409,608 Da to 257,500 Da, yielding three distinct fractions: SPG-a (257,500 Da), SPG-b (429,300 Da), and SPG-c (364,800 Da). In vitro, SPG-b significantly promoted cell proliferation, increasing BJ and HaCaT cells growth by 53.69% and 14.59%, respectively, at a concentration of 300 μg/mL (p < 0.05), compared to undegraded SPG. Additionally, scratch assays revealed that SPG-a enhanced BJ cells migration by 24.13% (p < 0.05), while SPG-b exhibited most pronounced effect on HaCaT cells migration (17.12%, p < 0.05), compared to the undegraded SPG. In vivo, the bioactivity of the degraded SPG products was evaluated using a zebrafish larval caudal fin regeneration model, which showed that SPG-c (3.125 mg/mL) significantly improved fin regeneration rates by 6.97% (p < 0.05), compared to the undegraded SPG. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that ultrasoundassisted H₂O₂ degradation effectively reduces SPG molecular weight while enhancing its functional properties. These findings provide a foundation for the further development of SPG in pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications, highlighting its potential for broader utilization.
Keywords: Schizophyllan, ultrasonic-assisted H₂O₂, Molecular Weight, Cell proliferation and migration, Tissue Regeneration
Received: 18 Jan 2025; Accepted: 04 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 He, Liu, Li, Chen and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lin Zhou, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
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