Effect of polysaccharides from the roots of Morinda officinalis How on physical fatigue

The dried roots of Morinda officinalis How is one of the most widely used Chinese traditional tonic herbal medicine. Polysaccharides from the roots of Morinda officinalis How (MOP) are its active component and have a lot of pharmaceutical activities. However, anti-fatigue effects of MOP have not yet been tested. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of MOP on physical fatigue in mice. The anti-fatigue effects of MOP were evaluated using a forced swimming test, along with the determination of blood lactic acid (BLA), serum urea nitrogen (SUN), serum creatine kinase (CK), liver glycogen and muscle glycogen contents. The experiment data showed that MOP could increase the swimming time to exhaustion of the mice, as well as increase the liver and muscle glycogen contents, and decrease the BLA, SUN and serum CK contents. These results indicated that MOP had anti-fatigue effects in mice.