Of fucoidan

Shibata, H., Nagaoka, M., Takeuchi, Y., Hashimoto, S., Ueyama, S., and Yokokura, T. (1998). Anti-ulcer effect of fucoidan from brown seaweed, Cladosiphon okamuranus Tokida. ]pn. Pharmacol. Ther. 26,1211-1215. 

The anionic groups Most of the seaweed polysaccharides with antiviral activity carry only sulfate as their anionic group. Nevertheless, in the case of fucoidans both sulfate groups and uronic acids are present. Sulfated seaweed polysaccharides with degrees of sulfation lower than 20-22% usually do not show activity, unless other structural factors compensate the sulfate deficiency. 

Table 1. Effects of fucoidan on body, thymus, spleen and adipose tissue weight in sarcoma 180-bearing mice1...

Fig. (2). Photograph of Matrigel, 5 days after a subcutaneous injection with 0.5 ml. Main gel alone (a)t Mairigel supplemented with aFGF and heparin without (b). or with 150 mg/kg (c). or 300 mg/kg(d) of fucoidan administered orally twice from day 0 to 4.

Table 2. Effects of fucoidan on angiogenesis induced by Matrigel supplemented with aFGF and heparin1...

Li, N., Zhang, Q., and Song, J. 2005. Toxicological evaluation of fucoidan extracted from Laminaria Japonica in Wistar rats. Food Chem. Toxicol. 43, 421 26. 

Both molecular mass and sulfate content of fucoidan played very important roles in the effects on the azo radicals 2-2 -azobis (2-amidino-propane)dihydrochloride-induced LDL oxidation (Li et al., 2006). The correlation between the sulfate content and scavenging superoxide radical ability was positive, the ratio of sulfate content/fucose was an effective indicator to antioxidant activity of the samples (Wang et al., 2008). 

Marine algae are potentially prolific sources of highly bioactive components that might represent useful leads in the development of new pharmaceutical agents and functional foods. This chapter discusses the current literature on biological activities of sulfated polysaccharides, fucoidans, from brown seaweeds. The profound functional properties of fucoidans could be employed in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical functional food, and cosmeceutical... 

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