Physicochemical Properties and Intestinal Bacterial Growth-Promoting Effect of Cell-Wall Polysaccharides from Cucumber Peel

Physicochemical properties, intestinal microbial growth, and inhibitory effects of alcohol-insoluble polysaccharide (AIP) extracted from cucumber peel were investigated. AIP was composed of 14.54% crude protein, 1.04% crude lipid, 13.74 % crude ash, 9.1% soluble dietary fiber, and 41.2% insoluble dietary fiber. AIP showed low bulk density (0.18 g/mL) and water-holding capacity (6.39 g/g), and high oil-holding capacity (3.96 g/g). Pectic substance fractions [water-soluble pectic substance (WSP), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid-soluble pectic substance (ESP), and alkali-soluble pectic substances (ASP)] and hemicellulose fractions [1 M KOH-soluble hemicellulose (KHP1) and 4 M KOH-soluble hemicellulose (KHP4)] were obtained from sequential chemical fractionation of AIP. WSP showed higher total sugar contents than total uronic acid contents, whereas opposite results were observed in ESP and ASP. Molecular weight distributions of three pectic substance fractions were in order of ASP>ESP>WSP. Ion exchange chromatogram pattern of WSP was different from those of ESP and ASP. Major component of WSP was fraction eluted by 0.05 M ammonium acetate buffer, whereas that of ESP and ASP was fraction eluted by 0.2 M NaOH. WSP and ASP showed growth-promoting activities against Lactobacillus brevis, Bifidobacterium bifidum, and B. longum, whereas B. bifidum and B. longum for ESP. KHP1 and KHP4 fractions had significant growth-promoting activities against B. bifidum.