Simple separation of anticoagulant sulfated galactan from marine red algae

In this study, hot water extracts of 22 red algal species were evaluated for their potential anticoagulant activities. The extracts from eight species (Grateloupia elliptica, Sinkoraena lancifolia, Halymenia dilatata, Grateloupia lanceolata, Lomentaria catenata, Martensia denticulata, Schizymenia dubyi, Chondrus crispus) showed potent activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). Of these eight algae, the crude polysaccharide fraction (CpoF) from the hot water extracts of L. catenata and S. dubyi showed the highest APTT activity. Lomentaria catenata and S. dubyi were selected and an enzymatic digestion process which could effectively separate a crude polysaccharide fraction with higher yields from raw algae materials was applied. The 10 enzymes tested included five carbohydrases and five proteases. The Ultraflo and Celluclast digests of L. catenata and the AMG digest of S. dubyi exhibited the most potent anticoagulant activity. Furthermore, in both species, the active compounds were mainly concentrated in the >30 kDa fraction through ultrafiltration and showed strong APTT (>1000) and thrombin time (TT) >1000 activity. The active compounds were shown to be sulfated galactans with a greater than 80% galactose content and an 0.22 ∼ 0.31 sulfate to total sugar ratio.