Comparison of Physicochemical Characteristics and Anticoagulant Activities of Polysaccharides from Three Sea Cucumbers

Abstract

In order to search for sulfated polysaccharides in different invertebrate connective tissues and to examine their biological activities, we have isolated three types of polysaccharides from the body wall of the three sea cucumbers Holothuria edulis, Apostichopus japonicas and Holothuria nobilis. The physicochemical properties and anticoagulant activities of these polysaccharides were examined and compared. The chemical composition analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis indicate that two types of polysaccharides, sulfated fucan and fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (FuCS), were found in all of the three species and in addition a neutral glycan was observed in H. edulis. The neutral α-glucan was firstly obtained from sea cucumber. The same type of polysaccharides from different species of sea cucumbers have similar physicochemical properties and anticoagulant activities, but those of different types of glycans are significantly different, possibly due to their different monosaccharide compositions, electric charges and average molecular weights. The FuCSs have stronger anticoagulant activities than the sulfated fucans, although the molecular sizes of the FuCSs are lower than those of the sulfated fucans, whereas the neutral glucan has no activity, as expected from the absence of sulfate. Thus, anticoagulant activities of the different type of polysaccharides are likely to relate to monosaccharide composition and sulfate content. Preliminary analysis suggests that the sulfation patterns of the FuCSs may result in the difference in anticoagulant activities. Our data could help elucidate the structure-activity relationship of the sea cucumber polysaccharides.

Fucosylated Chondroitin Sulfate from Sea Cucumber in Combination with Rosiglitazone Improved Glucose Metabolism in the Liver of the Insulin-Resistant Mice

“…They contain two polysaccharides: sulfated fucan and fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (CHS). 6,7) As shown in Fig. 1, CHS from sea cucumber is an acid glycosaminoglycan composed of a chondroitin sulfate-E backbone with branches of sulfated fucose at a ratio of approximately 30%, a distinguishing feature different from CHS isolated from other species.…”

Cosmeceuticals Properties of Sea Cucumbers: Prospects and Trends

“…FuCS is a unique glucosaminoglycans (GAGs) regarding its structure and medical properties. FuCS has been isolated from a few species of sea cucumber, including Ludwigothurea grisea, Pearsonothuria graeffei, Holothuria vagabunda, Stichopus tremulus, Isostichopus badionotus, Thelenata ananas, Stichopus japonicus, Holothuria edulis, Apostichopus japonicas, Holothuria nobilis, Acaudina molpadioidea, and Athyonidium chilensis [14,15,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. The backbone of FuCS is made up of repeating disaccharide units of alternating β-D-glucuronic acid and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosamine [32].…”

Saponin-enriched sea cucumber extracts exhibit an antiobesity effect through inhibition of pancreatic lipase activity and upregulation of LXR-β signaling

“…Sea cucumbers are rich in collagen, saponins, and polysaccharides (Abedin et al, 2013;Luo et al, 2013;Van Dyck et al, 2010). Saponins of sea cucumber have been reported to contain therapeutic properties and are used in treating various diseases such as cancer, hepatic steatosis and diabetes Osbourn et al, 2011;Tian et al, 2013).…”