Skip to main content

Table 1 Various polysaccharides in nature

From: Bioactive polysaccharides from natural resources including Chinese medicinal herbs on tissue repair

Polysaccharides

Source

Functions

Starch

Plants

Storage, drug adjuvant

Cellulose

Plants

Cell structure, food additives

Pectin

Plants

Food additives

Alginate

Microorganism

Drug adjuvant

Carrageenan

Microorganism

Food additives

Heparin

Animals

Animal tissue structure, therapeutic agents

Hyaluronan

Animals

Animal tissue structure, therapeutic agents

Chondroitin sulfate

Animals

Animal tissue structure

Heparin sulfate

Animals

Animal tissue structure

Chitin and chitosan

Animals

Tissue scaffolds