Things to know about Beta-glucan

Things to know about Beta-glucan

The immune system plays an important role in protecting the body from pathogens. Modern lifestyles (high stress levels, poor diet, malabsorption, hormonal disturbances, environmental pollution, etc.) pose increasing challenges to the immune system, which leads to an unbalanced response of the body to pathogens.

Therefore, supplementary ingredients that help strengthen the body’s immunity are increasingly interested and researched.

Glucans are part of a family of naturally occurring bioactive molecules and are gradually gaining strong attention not only as an important food supplement but also as an immunostimulant and potential drug. Beta-glucan has been extensively studied in both animals and humans and is recognized to increase immunity, lower blood sugar, lower blood lipids, anticancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

1. Structure of Beta-glucan

1.1 Physical properties of beta-glucan

The polysaccharides are viscous and soluble in water. β-Glucan is also widely used in the food industry for its ability to gel and increase the viscosity of aqueous solutions. It is used to enhance the texture and appearance of salad dressings, gravies, and creams. β-Glucan is also used as a fat mimic for the development of reduced-calorie food products.

However, the flowability and gelling properties of β-glucan cause a number of technical problems for the food industry, such as slow solution or sludge filtration, low yields, and precipitation in
beer preservation.

Therefore, the applications of β-glucan in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries have been limited due to its high molecular weight and viscosity. Many studies have reported that the application of chemical, enzymatic and physical methods to modify the molecular structure of β-glucan has a significant impact on solubility, viscosity and other rheological parameters.

1.2 Chemical structure of beta-glucan

Glucans are heterogeneous polysaccharides of glucose polymer complexes in which glucose is linked together via β-1,3 bonds forming a glycosidic chain core. These glucans can be short or long, branched or unbranched, α or β isomers, and soluble or granular.

The branches starting from the glycosidic chain are very diverse and have two main branching groups, β-1.4 and β-1.6. These clades appear to be species-specific, e.g. the β-glucans of fungi have β-1.6 lateral branches while those of bacteria have β-1.4 lateral branches. The arrangement of branches follows a certain ratio, and branches can arise from branches (secondary branches). In aqueous solution, β-glucan undergoes conformational change into a random triple helix, single helix, or coil.

The immunological functions of β-glucans clearly depend on their conformational complexity. When talking about the immunoregulatory function of glucan, one usually considers β-1,3-glucan purified from the fungal cell wall. The most common immunostimulating fungal β-glucan is β-(1,3)-glucan with varying degrees of β-(1,6)-glucan branching.

1.3 Origin of beta-glucan

Beta-glucan is a component of the cell walls of yeasts in beer and bread and the bran of cereals, barley, etc. Common sources of β-1,3-glucans used experimentally include yeast (typically S. cerevisiae), fungi (Sclerotium glucanicum and others), bacteria (curdlan from Alcaligenes faecalis) and seaweed (laminarin from Laminaria Digitata).

2. Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of beta-glucan

Most β-glucans are considered indigestible carbohydrates and are fermented to varying degrees by the gut microbiota. Therefore, it has been speculated that their immunomodulatory properties may be partly microbiome-dependent. In fact, however, β-glucans can directly bind to specific receptors of immune cells, suggesting microbial-independent immunomodulatory effects. The pharmacokinetics and pharmacokinetics of β-glucans have been further studied in animal models.

Using a sucking rat model to evaluate the absorption and tissue distribution of radiolabeled β-glucan administered via the intestinal tract, it was found that the majority of β-glucan was detected in the stomach and duodenum 5 minutes after use. This number drops rapidly in the first 30 minutes.

A significant amount of β-glucan enters the small intestine immediately after ingestion. Its transit through the small intestines discussed over time with an increase in the ileum. Although systemic blood concentrations are low (less than 0.5%), significant systemic immunomodulatory effects in terms of humoral and cellular immune responses have been demonstrated.

The pharmacokinetics following intravenous administration of three specific and high-purity β-glucans were investigated using carbohydrates covalently labeled with a fluorescent agent at the reducing terminal. Variations in molecular size, branching frequency and solution structure have been shown to affect the half-life, volume of distribution and clearance.

Low blood levels of β-glucan following oral administration do not fully reflect the pharmacodynamics of β-glucan and do not exclude its in vivo effect. Cheung-VKN  and colleagues attached β-glucans to fluorescein to monitor their absorption and oral processing in vivo. Oral beta-glucan is absorbed by macrophages via the Dectin-1 receptor and then transported to the spleen, lymph nodes, and bone marrow.

In the bone marrow, macrophages degraded large β-1,3-glucan into smaller soluble β-1,3-glucan fragments. These fragments are then taken up through complement receptor 3 (CR3) of marginal granulocytes. These granulocytes with CR3-bound β-glucan-fluorescein have been shown to kill complement-inactivated complement 3b (iC3b) opsonized tumor cells after reaching the site of complement activation, as tumor cells coated with monoclonal antibodies.

It has also been shown that intravenously soluble β-glucans can be delivered directly to CR3 on circulating granulocytes. Furthermore, Rice PJ et al found that soluble β-glucans such as laminarin and scleroglucan can be directly bound and internalized by intestinal epithelial cells and intestinal-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) cells. Unlike macrophages, soluble β-glucan uptake by intestinal epithelial cells is independent of Dectin-1.

However, Dectin-1 and TLR-2 are responsible for the uptake of soluble β-glucan by GALT cells. Another important finding of this study is that absorbed β-glucans can increase the resistance of mice to infection.

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References:

1. B. Du, M. Meenu, H. Liu, and B. Xu, “A Concise Review on the Molecular Structure and Function Relationship of β-Glucan”, Int J Mol Sci, vol. 20, p.h 16, p. 4032, month August 2019, doi: 10.3390/ijms20164032.
2. H. S. Goodridge, A. J. Wolf, and D. M. Underhill, “β-glucan Recognition by the Innate Immune System”, Immunol Rev, vol 230, p.h 1, pp. 38–50, July 2009, doi: 10.1111/j.1600-065X .2009.00793.x.
3. G.C.-F. Chan, W. K. Chan, and D. M.-Y. Sze, “The effects of β-glucan on human immune and cancer cells”, J Hematol Oncol, vol 2, p 25, June 2009, doi: 10.1186/1756-8722-2-25.

Article source: Nutrition Research and Development Institute (https://inrd.vn/)

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