• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.151-156
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• 2002

Fucoidan is a kind of polysaccharides in brown seaweeds. For the past years have been extensively studied due to their numerous biological activities : anticancer, anticoagulant, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory and antiviral. In this study, we h ave extracted fucoidan from the Korean brown seaweeds and examined it's anticancer activities for employed SV40 DNA replication assay, RPA-ssDNA binding assay of replication protein A(RPA: known as human single-stranded DNA-binding protein essential for DNA rep-lication) and MCF7 cell growth inhibition assay. In addition to, we found that chemically sulfated fucoidan'santicancer activity is more higher than natural and desulfated fucoidan. It seem that fucoidan's sulfate group affect on DNA replication, cause of decrease RPA's DNA binding activity. These results suggests that sulfated fucoidan from Korean brown seaweeds have anticancer activity.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.128-132
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• 2009

Fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide derived from brown seaweed, is an important material valued for its various biological functions, including anti-coagulation, anti-aging, and immune system support. In this study, we examined the potential of fucoidan as a novel emulsifying agent in BSA (bovine serum albumin)-stabilized emulsion at a neutral pH. We measured the dispersed oil-droplet size, surface zeta-potential and creaming formation of 0.5 wt% BSA emulsion (20 wt% oil traction) in the absence and presence of fucoidan. The average particle size and zeta-potential value were 625.4 nm and -30.91 mV in only BSA-stabilized emulsion and 745.2 nm and -44.2 mV in 1.0 wt% fucoidan-added BSA emulsion, respectively. This result suggested that some positive charges of the BSA molecules interacted with the negative charges of fucoidan to inhibit the flocculation among the oil droplets. The creaming rate calculated from the backscattering data measured by Turbiscan dramatically decreased in 1.0 wt% fucoidan-added BSA emulsion during storage. Accordingly, the repulsion forces induced among the oil particles coated with 1.0 wt% fucoidan in emulsion solution resulted in significantly increased emulsion stability. The turbidity of the BSA-stabilized emulsion at 500 nm decreased during five days of storage. However, the fucoidan-added BSA emulsion exhibited a higher value of turbidity than the BSA-stabilized emulsion did. In conclusion, an anionic sulfated fucoidan lowered the surface zeta-potential of BSA-coated oil droplets via the electrostatic interaction, and subsequently inhibited the flocculation among the oil droplets, thereby clearly minimizing the creaming and phase separation of the emulsion.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 2011

Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide derived from brown algae that has been reported to perform multiple biological activities, including immunostimulation. In this study, we investigated whether fucoidan has beneficial effects on endotoxemia induced by LPS, a septic model in mice. The focus of this study was on survival rates and spleen function of the mice upon treatment. We found that fucoidan had prophylactic effects on the survival rate of mice with endotoxemia. Flow cytometric analysis using antibodies for subset-specific markers revealed that fucoidan profoundly reversed the depleted population of dendritic cells in mice with endotoxemia. According to Western blot analysis, the spleen cells of LPS/fucoidan-treated mice showed a higher expression of anti-apoptotic molecules compared to those of LPS-treated mice. Also, fucoidan-treated spleen cells were more responsive to mitogens. Taken together, these results demonstrate that fucoidan pre-treatment has beneficial effects on the survival rate and function of the spleen in mice with endotoxemia. This study may broaden the use of fucoidan in clinical fields, especially endotoxemia.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2015

Fucoidan, a fucose-rich sulfated polysaccharide derived from brown seaweed in the class Phaeophyceae, has been widely studied for its possible health benefits. However, the potential of fucoidan as a possible treatment for hyperpigmentation is not fully understood. This study investigated the effects of fucoidan on melanogenesis and related signaling pathways using Mel-Ab cells. Fucoidan significantly decreased melanin content. While fucoidan treatment decreased tyrosinase activity, it did not do so directly. Western blot analysis indicated that fucoidan downregulated microphthalmia-associated transcription factor and reduced tyrosinase protein expression. Further investigation showed that fucoidan activated the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway, suggesting a possible mechanism for the inhibition of melanin synthesis. Treatment with PD98059, a specific ERK inhibitor, resulted in the recovery of melanin production. Taken together, these findings suggest that fucoidan inhibits melanogenesis via ERK phosphorylation.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.205-209
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• 2015

Fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide is found in several types of edible brown algae. It has shown numerous biological activities; however, the molecular mechanisms on the activity against atopic dermatitis have not been reported yet. We now examined the effects of fucoidan on chemokine production co-induced by TNF-α/IFN-γ, and the possible mechanisms underlying these biological effects. Our data showed that fucoidan inhibited the TNF-α/IFN-γ-induced production of thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) and macrophagederived chemokine (MDC) mRNA in human keratinocytes HaCaT cells. Also, fucoidan suppressed phosphorylation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)1 in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, fucoidan significantly inhibited activation of extracellular-signal-regulated kinases (ERK) phosphorylation. These data indicate that fucoidan shows anti-inflammatory effects by suppressing the expression of TNF-α/IFN-γ-induced chemokines by blocking NF-κB, STAT1, and ERK1/2 activation, suggestive of as used as a therapeutic application in inflammatory skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.212-217
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• 2007

Fucoidan (fucan sulfate) is a fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharide from brown algae such as Fucus vesiculosus, Ecklonia kurome, and Cladosiphon okamuranus. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of fucoidan on the expression of diabetes-related genes in mouse cell line 3T3-L1. 3T3-L1 adipocytes were cultured for 48 hr with or without fucoidan (10, 100, and 500 ppm) on a 60 mm dish. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used for measurement of peroxisome proliferators activated receptor ${\gamma}\;(PPAR{\gamma})$, CCAAT/enhancer binding protein ${\alpha}\;(C/EBP{\gamma})$, and glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) RT-PCR analysis revealed that expression level of GLUT4, $PPAR{\gamma}$, and $C/EBP{\alpha}$ mRNAs increased with fucoidan treatment from 10 to 500 ppm in a dose-dependent manner. Fucoidan appears to enhance insulin sensitivity by increasing the expression level of diabetes-related genes in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Therefore, fucoidan is potentially useful as a natural therapeutic material for hyperglycemia in type II diabetes patients.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.344-348
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• 2005

Fucoidans, high-molecular-weight sulfated polysaccharides extracted from brown seaweeds, have various biological activities. Here we examined whether fucoidan could ncrease the immunomodulation and proliferation capacity of cells in vitro. When peritoneal macrophages were treated with various concentrations of fucoidan $(1\~100{\mu}g/mL)$ for 24 hours, NO production was significantly increased. In addition, exposure of macrophages to $10{\mu}g/mL$ of fucoidan induced a phagocytic activity. Treatment of neuroblastoma cells (SK-N-SH) with fucoidan enhanced cell proliferation and NO production in a concentration-dependent manner. These results indicate that fucoidan has both immunomodulatory and cell proliferative properties, and may thus be a candidate for development as an immunomodulating agent.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.74-78
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• 2007

Fucoidan, that is high-molecular-weight sulfated polysaccharides extracted from brown seaweeds has been shown to elicit various biological activities. Here, we investigated the effects of fucoidan on cell proliferation and nitric oxide (NO) production in neuronal blastoma cell (SH-SY5Y). In the present study, we demonstrated that fucoidan treatment resulted in increase of cell proliferation and NO production. When cells were treated with amyloid-${\beta}$ (A${\beta}$) in the absence or presence of fucoidan, fucoidan recovered the cell viability decreased by A${\beta}$ peptides. To further determine whether nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is involved in proliferative effect of fucoidan, cells were treated with NOS inhibitors in the absence or presence of fucoidan. Selective constitutive nitric oxide synthase (cNOS) inhibitor, diphenylene iodonium chloride (DPI), caused a decrease of cell viability, whereas cell viability was increased by specific inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor, S-methylisothiourea (SMT), in the fucoidan-untreated cells. Treatment with fucoidan inhibited the cell viability decreased in DPI-exposed cells. In contrast, fucoidan had no effect on cell growth in SMT-treated cells, indicating that cNOS may not play a role in the proliferation of fucoidan-treated cells. The present data suggest that fucoidan has proliferative and neuroprotective effects and these effects may be associated with iNOS.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.716-723
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• 1995

The fucoidan purified from Korean brown seaweed, Ecklonia stolonifera was characterized on molecular structure and blood anticoagulant activities. Extraction was conducted at $100^{\circ}C$ with water and repeated twice. The crude fucodian was 151.1g out of 20.0 kg of Ecklonia stolonifera. The Fucoidan-1, which was purified from crude fucoidan using calcium chloride and cetyl pyridium chloride (CPC), was 35.2% against crude fucoidan. Fucoidan-5 was obtained approximately 28.1% from Fucoidan-1 through DEAE-Toyopearl 650 M ion-exchange column chromatography and showed one band by cellulose acetate electrophoresis. The molecular weight of Fucoidan-5 was estimated to be about 21,000∼23,000 dalton by Sephacryl S-300 gel filtration chromatography. Fucoidan-5 consists of 35.7% of fucose and 4.3% of galactose and the molar ratio of fucose and sulfate was about one to one. IR spectrum of Fucoidan-5 showed absorption at $1240\;cm^{-1}\;and\;850\;cm^{-1}$ and specific rotation value, $[\alpha]$, was $[\alpha]$. These results suggests that the sulfate maybe bind at $C_{4}$ carbon on ${\alpha}-L-fucose$. Gas chromatograph of methyl alditol acetate revealed that Fucoidan-5 is a fucose containing sulfated polysaccharide with $({\alpha}l-2)\;or\;({\alpha}l-2)$ glycosidic linkage. Anti-thrombin activity of the Fucoidan-5 was estimated as 1.4 time stronger than heparin. From above results, the purification methods using CPC and ion exchange chromatography is effective tools for obtaining highly purified fucoidan from Gompi, Ecklonia stolonifera.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2009

Fucoidan is a uniquely-structured sulfated fucose-rich polysaccharide derived from brown algae. Recently, the abalone glycosidase-digested fucoidan extract (fucoidan extract) derived from seaweed Cladosiphon novae-caledoniae Kylin (Mozuku) draws much attention because of its clinical anti-cancer effect in Japan. Here, we report the cancer cells-specific apoptosis inducing effects of the fucoidan extract. The fucoidan extract suppressed the growth of various anchorage-dependent and -independent cancer cells. The fucoidan extract contained low molecular weight components, which induced apoptosis of human leukemic HL 60 cells but not of human lymphocytes. It was shown that the fucoidan extract lead caspase 3/7 activation and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential in HL 60 cells. Another function of the fucoidan extract was also observed. It has been known that sugar chain expression on the surface of cancer cell membrane changes dependent on their malignancy. The analysis on sugar chain expression profiling using FITC-labeled lectins revealed that the expression of concanavalin A (Con A) binding sugar chain was enhanced by the treatment of human lung adenocarcinoma A549, human uterine carcinoma HeLa and human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells with the fucoidan extract. Con A-induced apoptosis of cancer cells was stimulated in a dose-and time-dependent manner by the treatment with the fucoidan extract but not of human normal fibroblast TIG-1 cells.