Preparation Of Neoagaro-oligosaccharides By Enzymatic Hydrolysis And Their Function Evaluation In Cosmetics

Agar is a gelatinous polysaccharide extracted from red algae with a linear chain compose of 1,3-linkedβ-D-galactopyranose alternating with 1,4-linked 3,6-anhydro-α-L-galactose. Agaro-oligosaccharides can be formed depending on the moiety of end residues including neoagaro series and agaro series. Some methods have been used to hydrolyze agar, such as enzymatic, physical, and chemical degradation. Compared with traditional chemical degradation, enzymatic hydrolysis is available for industrial preparation because of its special substrate, peculiar products, mild reaction conditions, high yield and high stability. In recent years, versatile biological activities ofagaro-oligosaccharides have been observed, such as anti-inflammation, anti-tumor and antioxidant. And the activity is correlated to the degree of polymerization (DP). But few activities of neoagaro-oligosaccharides was found. Kabayashi had found that neoagarobiose (DP2) had both moisturizing and whitening effects on melanoma cells. Neoagaro-oligosaccharides with higher DP may be more effective on moisturizing than smaller oligosaccharides because of its viscosity which is higher than that of smaller oligosaccharides. It is suggested that neoagaro-oligosaccharides can be potential reagents for cosmetics use. However, there is few attention to this potential value interiorly nowadays. Thus, the present study was undertaken to investigate the moisturizing and whitening effects of neoagaro-oligosaccharides with different DP, and assess the structure-function relationships.Two novel extracellularβ-agarase gene AgaA and AgaB from Marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. CY24 were previously cloned and successfully...