Unveiling The Anti-Alzheimer, Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, Antiviral Therapeutic Functionality Of Polysaccharides Extracted From Opuntia Ficus

Opuntia ficus peels or Prickly pear peel (PPP) is the waste byproduct obtained during fruit processing, the present study aims to extract polysaccharides from PPP and analyze it by HPLC. The biological potential activities as antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antiviral, and anti Alzheimer of these polysaccharides were examined. Polysaccharides were extracted from PPP using hot water. Its composition was analyzed by HPLC. Profiles of 14 different natural mono sugars were identified. Stachyose, galactose, xylose, and sucrose were the most abundant sugars. Results indicated that the polysaccharides of PPP extract have antioxidant activity against DPPH and ABTS free radical. The scavenging activity of (150 & mu;g /ml) of polysaccharides appeared to be interesting compared to synthetic antioxidants. Polysaccharides of PPP had 77.77% anti-inflammatory activity which is caused by inhibiting the heat-induced albumin denaturation and anti-Alzheimer effect (42.02%) compared to Donepezil drug (59.50%) in a dose-dependent manner. On the other hand polysaccharides of PPP extract showed no activity when tested against HSV-1 and Influenza A by plaque reduction assay. Thus, it could be suggested that polysaccharides PPP demonstrated potential biological activities as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-Alzheimer activities.