Hepatoprotective Polysaccharides from Geranium wilfordii: Purification, Structural Characterization, and Their Mechanism

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I have carefully read the manuscript "Polysaccharides from Geranium wilfordii: Purification, Structural Characterization, Hepatoprotective Activity and Mechanism" by Jia-Yi Fenga, Yan-Qing Xiea, Peng Zhanga, Qian Zhoua, Afsar Khanb, ZhiHong Zhoua, Xian-Song Xiaa and Lu Liua, very good and complete.

Small suggestions I make to enrich your presentation, which are:

The title can be reworded to appeal to the reader, and my suggestion is to directly bring the (rephrased) conclusion to the title and not as is.

In abstract present values ​​obtained that show that the species is hepatoprotective.

In keywords replace Geranium wilfordii; polysaccharide

The introduction is very well characterized, and along it brings the research justification.

In line 30 remove the word "At present" as the reference is from 2018. The expression:

Line 56 "However, current research on the composition of GCP is insufficient" does not seem adequate to me, it gives the impression that you justify your research only by this aspect, think better about this statement and look for more adequate ways to express your idea.

Line 62-"GCP was extracted from the dried aerial parts of G. wilfordii with hot water extraction and ethanol precipitation" put in Material and Methods, excluding from results.

Line 69 - "The molecular weights of GCP, GNP and GAP were determined using high-performance gel-permeation chromatography (HGPPC), GCP", is in material and methods, excluding the information in results.

Line 219 - again the observed "RAW264,7 macrophages were treated with GNP and GAP at different concentrations (10, 50, 250, 500 or 1000 μg/mL) for 24 h."

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

 

The authors report a study of polysaccharides from Geranium wilfordii: purification, structural characterization, hepatoprotective activity and mechanism. The authors showed their efforts to characterize the Chinese herbal decoction of Geranium wilfordii by various methods and its bioactivity in this submission. However, the authors provided low-quality images and figures in the supplementary materials and cannot be downloaded for meaningful review at the moment using the link provided at the supplementary materials section. The authors are requested to improve those items with high quality before publication. The numbers are not actually visible for any meaningful review in their current form. Again, figures 2 and 3 need to be improved with high quality images in the manuscript. The manuscript is recommended for publication based on the information provided in the manuscript, which supports their findings. However, uploading high quality images in both the manuscript and supplementary materials is the authors responsibility for the general audience of the journal. Overall, it is a good study and recommended for publication in molecules after minor revisions.

 

Additional comments:

The following references are relevant to this study and should be cited.

 

1) J. Ethnopharmacol., 2022, 285,114907; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2021.114907

2) BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine., 2015, 15, 146; DOI 10.1186/s12906-015-0665-9.

1. Page 1; Line 39; “compoundsError! Reference source not found” please resolve it.

 

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The present manuscript entitled “Polysaccharides from Geranium wilfordii: Purification, Structural Characterization, Hepatoprotective Activity and Mechanism” describes the composition of crude polysaccharides from G. wilfordii (GCP) is insufficient. Thus, a preliminary study of GCP was carried out on the structural characterization of polysaccharides, their hepatoprotective activity, and their mechanism. The manuscript is well organized, and the study is sufficiently performed. The result analysis is very accurate and adequate and lacks major errors. Therefore, I would recommend the publication of the manuscript in the Molecules Journal after some MINOR improvements.

I advise the authors to consider the following points while revising their manuscript.

• Authors must check typos, use of is, are, was, were, and prepositions.
• Some relevant references in this area are still missing in the introduction section, so include some significant relevant references from recent years.
• The manuscript needs to be formatted properly, there are so many different font sizes in the manuscript.
• All figure's resolution is very poor, so provide high-resolution images.
• The conclusions section is written poorly and needs to be revised.
• Check the reference style and maintain the journal names as abbreviations according to the MDPI format.

Author Response

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Reviewer 4 Report

The authors performed the purification, structural characterization and hepatoprotective activity and mechanisms of action of polysaccharides isolated from Geranium wilfordii

 

- In the abstract and in the introduction the objectives of the work are not clear;

-On line 39 of the introduction, the reference does not appear. It is necessary to place it;

-On lines 55 and 63, correct the scientific name. Where there is "G. Wilfordii", correct for "G. wilfordii";

-Below table 1, organize the description continuously below the table, with single space.

- In item 3.3.3 of the methodology, the authors who developed this method of analysis or was it based on another study? If based on another study, add the reference;

- Was the study approved by any Animal Experimentation Committee? Please add this information.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf