Antitumour activity of polysaccharides and lipids from marine algae.

Abstract

For elucidation of the entity of antitumour activity of marine algae, 17 kinds of polysaccharide preparations of seaweed origin and 24 kinds of lipid fractions extracted from various seaweeds were selected as experimental material in addition to pectin. Mice implanted with Ehrlich car cinoma and Meth A fibrosarcoma were used as assay animal. Appreciable inhibition of tumour growth was found for fucoidan preparations form Undaria pinnatifida and Sargassum ringgoldianum, carrageenans and porphyran, being 51.7-54.5, 78.1, 40.1-54.0, and 45.3-58.4 %, respectively. The antitumour activities of lipid fractions against Meth A fibrosarcoma were found to be 36.1-47.1% with all the 3 fractions from S. ringgoldianum, and those of glycolipid and phospholipid fractions from L. angustata were as high as 45.9 and 58.0%, the latter of which was obtained from nearly 1/6 amount of injection. Phospholipid fraction from P. yezoensis showed very high activity such as 64.0% which was the value at the injection of nearly the same amounts as above, and it was the highest value among all the fractions tested in this work.

Assessment of the nutritional value of Capsosiphon fulvescens (Chlorophyta): developing a new species of marine macroalgae for cultivation in Korea

“…The lipid was extracted with a mixture solvent of chloroform-methanol (1:1, v/v) and the content of lipid was determined gravimetrically after oven-drying (100°C) the extract for 1 h (Noda et al 1989). The total carbohydrate content was determined by the phenol-sulfuric acid colormetric method (Dubois et al 1956) with the samples hydrolysed at 121°C for 1 h with 5% HCl.…”

Two fucoidans in the holdfast of cultivated Laminaria japonica

“…Fucoidans are a family of polysaccharides mainly composed of sulfated fucose [3], and are reported to have a variety of biological activity, for example antithrombotic [4,5], anti-inflammatory [4], and anti-tumor [6][7][8][9][10][11] effects. In this paper we report the isolation, characterization, and anti-tumor activity of two fucoidans from the holdfast of cultivated L. japonica.…”

Production of algal gels from the brown alga, Laminaria japonica Aresch., and their biotechnological applications

“…The complex of these substances in Laminaria possesses high biological activity, and is capable of absorbing and removing heavy metals and radionuclides from the body (Noda et al 1989b). Algal gel solutions possess viscosity and good coating properties.…”