Effects of Microbacterium laevaniformans Levans Molecular Weight on Cytotoxicity

Levans produced from Microbacterium laevaniformans were isolated, characterized, and fractionated by molecular weight. TLC, HPLC, and GC-MS analyses of the exopolysaccharide showed that it was a fructan-type polymer and was composed of (2,6)- and (2,1)-glycosidic linkages. $^{13}C$-NMR analysis proved that the polysaccharide was mainly a $\beta$-(2,6)-linked levan-type polysaccharide. To investigate the cytotoxicity of the acetone-precipitated levan fractions such as M1, M2, and M3, HepG2, P388D1, U937, SNU-1, and SNUC2A cell lines were screened. Among the cell lines tested, the cytotoxicity of M1- M3 fractions were detected from only SNU-1 and HepG2 cells at the dosage level of $100-800\mu\textrm{g}ml$. The M2 fraction M_r$, 80,000) at 400 $mu{g/ml}$ had the greatest cell growth inhibition (84.6%) on SNU-1, while the M1 $(M_r$, 50,000) at $800\mu\textrm{g}ml$ showed the greatest (46.32%) on HepG2. To obtain more uniform M_r$ fractions of levan, the levan was further fractionated from S1 $(M_r$ 1,000,000) to S5 $(M_r$ 10,000) using gel permeation chromatography. Again, the S1-S5 fractions had strong cytotoxicity on SNU-1 and HepG2 cell lines. The greatest inhibition effects of S4 $(M_r$ 80,000) on SNU-1 and S5 $(M_r$ 10,000) on HepG2 were shown to be 49.5% and 73.0%, respectively. The cytotoxicity of the levan fractions was more effective on SNU-1 than on HepG2. Although the relationship between the Mw and the cytotoxicity was not clear, smaller $M_r$, fractions of levan showed greater growth inhibition effect on the cancer cell lines in general. Therefore, it was indicated that a specific Mw class of levan is responsible for the effective cytotoxicity.