Enzymatic synthesis of Artemisia capillaris-derived prebiotic oligosaccharide using Leuconostoc mesenteroides MKSR dextransucrase and its potential health functional effects

Abstract

This study focuses on the enzymatic synthesis of prebiotic oligosaccharide from Artemisia capillaris (AC) using Leuconostoc mesenteroides MKSR dextransucrase and explores their antidiabetic, antidementia, and antioxidant effects through in vitro experiments. A Box-Behnken design was used to optimize transglycosylation conditions to produce Artemisia capillaris-derived oligosaccharide (ACOD) containing isomaltooligosaccahrides (IMO), dextran, and A. capillaris-derived substances with high α-glucosidase inhibition (AGI). The optimized conditions were 3.62 brix of AC, 182.54 mM sucrose, and 11.304 mM maltose. ACOD completely inhibited α-glucosidase activity, with 1.52-fold increase compared to other samples, such as OD (IMO and dextran, transglycosylated by dextransucrase without AC) and AC + OD (a simple mixture of AC and OD). Additionally, ACOD showed noteworthy acetylcholinesterase (103.91%) and butyrylcholinesterase (103.30%) inhibitory activity and potent antioxidant properties in terms of DPPH radical scavenging activity (70.04%), reducing power (100%), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). ACOD (3.60) showed a higher prebiotic index compared with AC (-23.11), OD (-2.27), and AC + OD (-9.12). In conclusion, ACOD offers enhanced multi-biological activities as a potential health-functional prebiotic. These findings hold promise for applications in functional foods and pharmaceuticals, expanding our understanding of prebiotic functionality.