Polysaccharides fucoidan

Functional Properties of Brown Algal Sulfated Polysaccharides, Fucoidans... 

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... 

With the evidence from previous studies, brown algal sulfated polysaccharide, fucoidan attracted extensive interest in anticoagulative drug discovery. 

Khotimchenko, Y. S. (2010). Antitumor properties of nonstarch polysaccharides Fucoidans and chitosans. Russ. J. Mar. Biol. 36,321-330. 

Thorlacius, H. etal. (2000) The polysaccharide fucoidan inhibits microvascular thrombus formation independently from P- and L-selectin function in vivo. Eur. J. Clin. Invest. 30,804-810... 

FIGURE 1 Potential hydrolysis rates of six structurally distinct polysaccharides in seawater (A) and surface sediments (B) from Skagerrak and Svalbard. Pull = pullulan, lam = laminarin, xyl = xylan, fu = fucoidan, ara = arabinogalactan, chon = chondroitin sulfate. Note the differences in scale on the y axes for sediments and for seawater. [Skagerrak data from Arnosti (2000).]... 

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. 

The influence of the hydrophobic sites In fucoidans the interaction of the methyl groups with the hydrophobic pocket of HSV-1 gC seems, in addition to the electrostatic forces, to be decisive in the binding of the polysaccharide to the viral protein. 

Fucan is a sulfated polysaccharide, naturally present in algae such as Fucus vesiculosus or Ascophyllum nodosum. Fucan is a general name for a mixture of three polysaccharides, and among them, fucoidan (or homofucan) can be theoretically considered as an homopolymer of a-1,2 L-fucose-4-sulfate and has been studied as a ligand in the same way as fucan himself. Their interaction with two proteins implicated in the coagulation process (thrombin and antithrombin) has been studied and is at least partially ionic. However, the dissociation of the complex fucan-antithrombin seems to include a slower step which could be attributed to a conformation change of the fucan [18]. 

Dietary use of Laminaria dates back to the days of the First World War when it was used in raw form as a feed supplement for horses. It is used as a food, principally in Asian coimtries, where it is valued for its flavor, mineral content, and health giving benefits. The most important components with a medicinal point of view are Laminaria s polysaccharides. It contains alginates, laminarin, laminine, and fucoidan as well as a number of other polysaccharides and simple sugars. 

Senni, K., Gueniche, F., Foucault-Bertaud, A., Igondjo-Tchen, S., Fioretti, F., Colliec-Jouault, S., Durand, P., Guezennec, J., Godeau, G., and Letourneur, D. (2006). Fucoidan a stdfated polysaccharide from brown algae is a potent modulator of coimective tissue proteolysis. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 445,56-64. 

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