Components and activity of polysaccharides from coarse tea

Coarse tea contained a high content of polysaccharide complex. Composed of polysaccharide and protein, the polysaccharide complex from tea (TPS) belon ged to glycoprotein with the molecular weight () of (10.7-11.0) x 10(4). Wh en mice (7 weeks old, C57BL/8) were injected with TPS, the levels of blood glucose (BG) in normal mice and model mice with high BG were decreased sign ificantly by averages of 13.54 and 22.18%, respectively. The antibody conce ntration (OD413nm) in the mice injected with 2.4 mg/mL TPS was increased ev idently by 44.93% (p < 0.01). TPS treatment was beneficial not only, for th e subsequent production of interleukin (IL) 2 in spleen cells of adjuvant a rthritis (AA) rats but also because it prohibited the body from producing t oo much IL-1 in AA rats. Treatment of diabetes with coarse tea in both Chin a and Japan may be related to TPS and the content of TPS in coarse tea.