Fucoidans: Downstream Processes and Recent Applications

Abstract

Fucoidans are multifunctional marine macromolecules that are subjected to numerous and various downstream processes during their production. These processes were considered the most important abiotic factors affecting fucoidan chemical skeletons, quality, physicochemical properties, biological properties and industrial applications. Since a universal protocol for fucoidans production has not been established yet, all the currently used processes were presented and justified. The current article complements our previous articles in the fucoidans field, provides an updated overview regarding the different downstream processes, including pre-treatment, extraction, purification and enzymatic modification processes, and shows the recent non-traditional applications of fucoidans in relation to their characters. of 22reproductive, immune and cell-to-cell communicative roles [23]. As recommended by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), fucoidans is a general term used to describe sulfated L-fucose-based polymers including sulfated fucans cited by the Swedish scholar Kylin, as well as other fucose-rich sulfated heteropolysaccharides [23,28]. Their chemical structures, in terms of monomeric composition and branching, are quite simple in marine invertebrates compared to their analogues in brown algae [13,29].Hundreds of articles have thoroughly discussed and reviewed the biological, pharmacological and pharmaceutical applications of fucoidans [30][31][32][33], including nanomedicine, [34] which has made it a hot topic in the last few decades [35][36][37]. All these studies tried to investigate fucoidans molecular mechanisms in relation to their chemical structure and physicochemical properties. Therefore, different hypotheses were suggested for each activity, such as anti-tumor [31,[38][39][40], anti-coagulant [41,42], anti-viral [43,44] and anti-inflammatory activity [45,46]. These investigations revealed that various factors are relevant, such as molecular weight, sulfation pattern, sulfate content and monomeric composition [47][48][49]. For example, different fractions were produced with different physicochemical properties in our previous experiments; sulfation pattern and sulfate content were highly related to anti-viral and cytotoxic activities against HSV-1 and Caco-2 cell lines, respectively, while molecular weight and sugar composition were potential factors in anti-coagulation activity [41,50]. In addition, degree of purity was reported as an influential factor [32], where co-extracted contaminants (e.g., phlorotannins or polyphenols) could lead to significant interference in anti-oxidant activity and, consequently, cosmetic applications [51,52].Therefore, several key production challenges regarding fucoidans were discussed in our last review article in order to obtain a product that follows the universal good manufactured practice (GMP) guidelines. The article discussed sources of heterogeneity in extracted fucoidans, including the different biotic (e.g., biogenic, geographical and seas...

Effect of Fucoidan Extracted From Sargassum angustifolium (Brown Seaweed) on Oxidative Stability of Butter Produced From Sour Cream

“…Diverse researches have been focused on the presence of food-borne bacteria in butter and dairy samples produced from contaminated milk [30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Some others reported the high antimicrobial effects of fucoidan extracted from S. angustifolium [37,38]. Thus, using fucoidan extracted from S. angustifolium on butter samples can decrease the risk of food-borne pathogens because of high antibacterial effects of fucoidan.…”

Sulfated Polysaccharides from Marine Algae as a Basis of Modern Biotechnologies for Creating Wound Dressings: Current Achievements and Future Prospects

“…Their structure is composed only of sulfated fucose residues and is regular, which significantly distinguishes them from fucoidans [16,17]. The chemical composition, structure, and biological properties of fucoidans are strongly dependent on the environmental conditions, season of collection, species of algae, and also on the technologies used for their fractional extraction and purification [69,74,121,122,124].…”

“…There are widely known commercial make-up products based on highly purified fucoidan extract (Maritech ® Reverse and Vita-Bright™), which exhibits pronounced regenerating, protective, and anti-aging properties for skin. However, the ability of fucans to modulate certain phases of wound healing by activating biomolecules and cellular processes has attracted the significant interest of biotechnologists in recent decades [122][123][124].…”

“…For example, the presence and position of sulfate groups are important factors that determine the anti-inflammatory properties of these biopolymers, including the inhibitory activity of cell proliferation, peroxidation, and neutrophil migration, and also their properties as agents of the cell-receptor interaction and potent anticoagulants [69,122,124,125]. In terms of the mechanism of anticoagulant action, low-molecular-weight fucoidans resemble heparin; they are a potent inducer of the production of such multifunctional cytokine as hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF), which plays an important role in the process of wound healing and re-epithelialization, stimulation of angiogenesis, and migration and proliferation of keratinocytes [126,127].…”

The Development of Hyaluronan/Fucoidan-Based Nanoparticles as Macrophages Targeting an Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Delivery System

“…They were first identified in brown algae in 1913 [ 13 ]. Fucoidan is commonly isolated from the brown seaweeds such as Ascopbyllum nodosum , Fucus vesiculosus , Saccharina japonica , and Sargassum thunbergii [ 14 ]. In fucoidans, the sulfate groups or uronic acids are bonded to L -fucose, with hundreds to thousands of L -fucose units linked by α-1-2 and α-1-4 bonds [ 15 ].…”