Investigation of sulfated glycosaminoglycans and their agarose gel electrophoresis patterns from plants extracts

Background: Many kinds of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) play an essential role in both physiological and pathological conditions. Most of them are obtained from animal sources, and used as nutraceuticals or therapeutic applications. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to screen for the presence of sulfated GAGs from 8 locally available plants, including ginger (Zingiber officinale), turmeric (Curcuma longa), star fruit (Averrhoa carambola), Namwa banana (Musa ABB ‘Kluai Namwa’), bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), purple-fruited pea eggplant (Solanum trilobatum), noni (Morinda citrifolia), and finger root (Boesenbergia rotunda). Materials and methods: All plants were extracted, and sulfated GAGs from the extracts were investigated by dimethylmethylene blue (DMMB) dye-binding assay, uronic acid assay, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, and agarose gel electrophoresis. Results: DMMB dye-binding and uronic acids assays revealed the presence of sulfated GAGs in all extracts with various degrees of sulfated GAGs levels. These results correlated to UV-Vis spectrophotometry that showed the maximum absorbance peaks from all extracts at 190-210 nm, which was similar to sulfated GAGs standard absorption. Interestingly, agarose gel electrophoresis suggested that sulfated GAGs in all extracts exhibited diverse patterns in alcian blue, toluidine blue and safranin O staining. Conclusion: Our results indicate that all plant extracts contain sulfated GAGs at certain levels, which could be a new approach for future study in bioprospecting.