Abstract
Undaria pinnatifida is a species of brown seaweed known to contain rich amounts of fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide known to possess various biological activities. We isolated crude fucoidan (F0) from the sporophylls of U. pinnatifida grown in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. Sulfate content, uronic acid content, and molecular weight of F0 were 15.02, 1.24, and >150 kDa, respectively. F0 was fractionated to yield three further fractions: F1, F2, and F3. Cytotoxicity of two major fractions was determined by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The algal fucoidans specifically suppressed the proliferation of three cancer cell lines with less cytotoxicity against the normal cells. Selective cytotoxicity could relate to the distinctive structures of each fucoidan fraction. Results from this study provide evidence that fucoidan, especially from U. pinnatifida grown in New Zealand, possesses great potential to be used as a functional food to reduce cancer risk or supplement cancer treatment.
Highlights
Fucoidan is a group of sulfated heteropolysaccharide commonly found in brown seaweeds [1]
CRUDE FUCOIDAN YIELD AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION Crude fucoidan was extracted from the sporophylls of New Zealand U. pinnatifida by CaCl2 extraction
Sporophyll-derived fucoidan contained 7.9 times more fucoidan from site 327 than U. pinnatifida harvested in the Kyoungbuk province, Korea while site 106 was 6.5 times more the extraction method between the two studies was different [19]
Summary
Fucoidan is a group of sulfated heteropolysaccharide commonly found in brown seaweeds [1]. Due to the popularity and increase in demand of pharmaceutical drugs derived from natural sources, it was not until the last decade or so have researchers focused more on the polysaccharides’ broad range of physiological and biological activities [5, 6, 7]. Fucoidans have great potential use in the production of new therapeutic agents in the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. Research in this area and their cytotoxicity was investigated. Previous studies have showed that these biological activities were thought to be influenced by their degree of sulfation [11], molecular mass [12], as well as the fucose:sulfate molar ratio [13]
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