| Summary: | Four polysaccharide fractions were prepared from barley leaves and then in vitro intestinal immunostimulatory activity was compared. Among fractions, high molecular weight fraction prepared by enzyme extraction, namely BLE-P, showed the potent in activating bone marrow cell proliferation through Peyer’s patch (PP), and in stimulating cytokine production in in vitro. By performing monosaccharide composition analysis, BLE-P was identified as a mixture of hemicellulosic glucuronoarabinoxylan and pectic rhamnogalacturonan I accounting for above 80%. Subsequently, BLE-P was orally administered to mice for 20 days to investigate the effect on the in vivo intestinal immunostimulatory activity. BLE-P administration not only augmented the production of immunoglobulin A (IgA), but also increased the levels of IgA-related cytokines, such as transforming growth factor-β and interleukin-10. These results suggest that BLE-P is most likely to facilitate the production of IgA via induction of various IgA-producing cytokines in small intestinal immune system.
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