The present study aimed to explore the improvement of the bioactivity of ginger peel polysaccharides (GPs) by the modification of zinc after structural characterization. The obtained GP-Zn (II) complexes consisted dominantly of glucose and galactose in a mass proportion of 95.10:2.10, with a molecular weight of 4.90 × 105 Da and a Zn content of 21.17 mg/g. The chelation of GPs and Zn (II) was mainly involved in the O-H of hydroxyl groups, and this interaction reduced the crystallinity and decreased the asymmetry of GPs, with a slight effect on the thermal stability. The administration of GPs and their Zn (II) complexes effectively alleviated CuSO4-induced inflammatory response in zebrafish (Tg: zlyz-EGFP) via down-regulating the mRNA expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12 and TNF-α) and upregulating the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10). Furthermore, the modification of Zn (II) enhanced the inflammation-inhibiting effect of polysaccharides. Therefore, GP-Zn (II) complexes could be applied as a candidate anti-inflammatory agent for the treatment of chronic inflammation-related diseases.
Keywords: anti-inflammatory activity; ginger peel polysaccharide–Zn (II) complexes; structural characterization; synthesis; zebrafish.