Chemical characteristic of an anticoagulant-active sulfated polysaccharide from Enteromorpha clathrata

A sulfated polysaccharide FEP from marine green alga Enteromorpha clathrata was extracted with hot water and further purified by ion-exchange and size-exclusion chromatography. Results of chemical and spectroscopic analyses showed that FEP was a high arabinose-containing sulfated polysaccharide with sulfate ester of 31.0%, and its average molecular weight was about 511 kDa. The backbone of FEP was mainly composed of (1 → 4)-linked β-l-arabinopyranose residues with partially sulfate groups at the C-3 position. In vitro anticoagulant assay indicated that FEP effectively prolonged the activated partial thromboplastin time and thrombin time. The investigation demonstrated that FEP was a novel sulfated polysaccharide with different chemical characteristics from other sulfated polysaccharides from marine algae, and could be a potential source of anticoagulant.