Abstract:The α-galactosidase enzymatic hydrolysis was applied to enhance the antioxidant activity of Dendrobium nobile polysaccharide. The optimum enzymolysis conditions were determined by single factor and response surface tests: α-galactosidase dosage 20 U/mL, pH 7.0, at 46 ℃ for 11 h. The polysaccharide DNP-30 was further hydrolyzed according to the optimal enzymatic hydrolysis conditions to obtain DNP-30E. The structure and antioxidant activity of DNP-30 and DNP-30E were analyzed. The results showed that the content of reducing sugar increased from 0.63% to 48.66% after enzymolysis, and weight-average molecular weight decreased from 7.95×105 Da to 2083 Da. Enzymolysis may break Glu(1α→6)-Man bond in DNP-30 and reverse the configuration of glucose terminal hydrogen. When the concentration is 2 mg/mL, the scavenging rate of ·ABTS increased from 22.92% to 47.87%, the scavenging rate of ·OH increased from 31.46% to 56.75%, the scavenging rate of ·O2- increased from 24.52% to 35.61%, the FRAP value increased from 141.67 to 441.06 (0.4 mg/mL). When the concentration of polysaccharide was 5~10 mg/mL, the cytotoxicity of DNP-30E was significantly reduced compared with DNP-30. Based on the oxidative stress model of HaCaT cells stimulated by SDS, when the concentration is 0.5 mg/mL, compared with DNP-30 group, ROS content in DNP-30E group decreased by 34.21%, MDA content decreased by 50.20%, and SOD activity increased by 84.17% The results suggested that the enzymatically degraded polysaccharides of Dendrobium nobile has the potential to be developed into a new natural antioxidants.