麥冬作為傳統(tǒng)中藥之一，具有多種藥用功效。麥冬中主要的化學成分有多糖、甾體皂苷、高異黃酮類等，而麥冬多糖是麥冬中的主要的有效藥用成分之一，具有抗心肌缺血、降血糖、免疫調節(jié)、抗腦缺氧、抗過敏和平喘等藥理作用。麥冬多糖其化學組成成分及其在麥冬中的含量隨麥冬的產地不同而存在差異，如綿麥冬和浙麥冬中麥冬多糖是由不同的單糖組成。就麥冬多糖的提取、分離純化、含量測定、化學組成、藥理活性和結構修飾及其體內代謝相關研究進行總結，以便為麥冬多糖深入研究及開發(fā)成藥食兩用功能食品提供參考。

Ophiopogon japonicus, a Chinese materia medica, has a variety of pharmacological functions. The main constituents in O. japonicus are polysaccharides, steroid saponins, and high isoflavones. The O. japonicus polysaccharide (OJP) is the main medicinal component with various medical functions such as anti-myocardial ischemia, hypoglycemic, immune regulation, anti-allergy, and anti-asthma and so on. The chemical components and content of OJP in O. japonicus vary with the habitat change, such as the polysaccharides in O. japonicus from Zhejiang Province and Mianyang City, Sichuan Province are composited with different monosaccharides. The advance researches on the isolation, extraction, and purification, determination, chemical composition, structure modification, pharmacological activity, in vivo pharmacokinetics of OJP are summarized, which could offer some references for the further research and development of medicinal and edible function foods.