The present study aimed at investigating the mechanism of interactions bet
ween calcium and the psyllium polysaccharide.
Plantago asiatica L. crude polysaccharide (PLCP)
was subjected to ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to yield calcium-depleted polysaccharide named PLCP-E. There
was essentially no difference in the structure bet
ween PLCP-E and PLCP. Ho
wever, PLCP-E exhibited a much lo
wer apparent viscosity compared to that of PLCP. PLCP
was treated
with sodium hydroxide to deplete ferulic acid. The resultant material
was named PLCP-FAS,
which also exhibited lo
wer viscosity. Adding Ca
2+ could both increase apparent viscosity of PLCP-E and PLCP-FAS, but only PLCP-E could keep the high viscosity
when dialysis
was carried out to remove free Ca
2+ in the solution. Thermal analysis sho
wed that the thermal stability of the polysaccharide
was reduced after EDTA chelation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis sho
wed that PLCP-E
was flaky and curly aggregation,
while PLCP
was mostly filamentous in appearance. The results suggested that there are strong interactions bet
ween Ca
2+ and the polysaccharide. The interactions contributed to the high viscosity,
weak gelling property, and thermal stability of the polysaccharide.
Keywords:
Plantago asiatica L.;
polysaccharide;
calcium;
apparent viscosity;
thermal stability;
morphology