Red algae sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) have been widely described as anticoagulant and antithrombotic agents; however no description of antithrombotic activity regarding green algae SPs has been reported. Caulerpa cupressoides (Chlorophyta) has three different SPs fractions (SP1, SP2 and SP3). We investigated the effects of SP2 on thrombin activity by antithrombin and in an experimental model of venous thrombosis in rats. The inhibition of thrombin assay was evaluated using antithrombin (AT) in the presence of SP2 and the antithrombotic activity was investigated in rats with thromboplastin as the thrombogenic stimulus. The anticoagulant effects of SP2 are suggested be due to the potentiation of thrombin inhibition by antithrombin (IC50 ~ 10.0µg mL-1) and this mechanism of interaction is different when compared to other studied Caulerpa polysaccharides. SP2 exhibited antithrombotic effects at doses of 1.0 and 2.0mg kg-1 body weight, but at higher doses (>2.0mg kg-1 body weight) this polysaccharide revert the antithrombotic property. No hemorrhagic effect (2.0mg kg-1) was observed. As occurs with red algae SPs, these results indicate that green algae SPs are also capable of exhibiting different in vivo properties.
Unfractionated heparin (UFH) and their low-molecular-weight derivatives are sourced almost exclusively from porcine mucosa (HPI); however, a worldwide introduction of UFH from bovine mucosa (HBI) has been recommended to reinforce the currently unsteady supply chain of heparin products. Although HBI has different chemical composition and about half of the anticoagulant potency of HPI (∼100 and ∼180 international unit [IU]/mg, respectively), they have been employed as interchangeable UFHs in some countries since the 1990s. However, their use as a single drug provoked several bleeding incidents in Brazil, which precipitated the publication of the first monographs exclusive for HBI and HPI by the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia. Nevertheless, we succeed in producing with high-resolution anion-exchange chromatography a novel HBI derivative with anticoagulant potency (200 IU/mg), disaccharide composition (enriched in N,6-disulfated α-glucosamine) and safety profile (bleeding and heparin-induced thrombocytopaenia potentials and protamine neutralization) similar to those seen in the gold standard HPI. Therefore, we show that it is possible to equalize the composition and pharmacological characteristics of these distinct UFHs by employing an easily implementable improvement in the HBI manufacturing.
Increasing reports of bleeding and peri- or post-operative blood dyscrasias in Brazil were possibly associated with the use of heparin from bovine instead of porcine intestine. These two pharmaceutical grade heparins were analysed for potential differences. NMR analyses confirmed that porcine heparin is composed of mainly trisulfated disaccharides -->4-alpha-IdoA2S-1-->4-alpha-GlcNS6S-1-->. Heparin from bovine intestine is also composed of highly 2-sulfated alpha-iduronic acid residues, but the sulfation of the alpha-glucosamine units vary significantly: approximately 50% are 6- and N -disulfated, as in porcine heparin, while approximately 36% are 6-desulfated and approximately 14% N -acetylated. These heparins differ significantly in their effects on coagulation, thrombosis and bleeding. Bovine heparin acts mostly through factor Xa. Compared to porcine heparin on a weight basis, bovine heparin exhibited approximately half of the anticoagulant and antithrombotic effects, but similar effect on bleeding. These two heparins also differ in their protamine neutralisation curves. The doses of heparin from bovine intestine required for effective antithrombotic protection and the production of adverse bleeding effects are closer than those for porcine heparin. This observation may explain the increasing bleeding observed among Brazilian patients. Our results suggest that these two types of heparin are not equivalent drugs.
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