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Review
. 2019 Mar 20;17(3):183.
doi: 10.3390/md17030183.

Biological Activities of Fucoidan and the Factors Mediating Its Therapeutic Effects: A Review of Recent Studies

Yu Wang  1 , Maochen Xing  2 , Qi Cao  3 , Aiguo Ji  4   5 , Hao Liang  6 , Shuliang Song  7
Affiliations
Review

Biological Activities of Fucoidan and the Factors Mediating Its Therapeutic Effects: A Review of Recent Studies

Yu Wang et al. Mar Drugs. .

Abstract

The marine acid polysaccharide fucoidan has attracted attention from both the food and pharmaceutical industries due to its promising therapeutic effects. Fucoidan is a polysaccharide that mainly consists of L-fucose and sulphate groups. Its excellent biological function is attributed to its unique biological structure. Classical activities include antitumor, antioxidant, anticoagulant, antithrombotic, immunoregulatory, antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects. More recently, fucoidan has been shown to alleviate metabolic syndrome, protect the gastrointestinal tract, benefit angiogenesis and bone health. This review focuses on the progress in our understanding of the biological activities of fucoidan, highlighting its benefits for the treatment of human disease. We hope that this review can provide some theoretical basis and inspiration for the product development of fucoidan.

Keywords: acid polysaccharide; biological function; biological structure; fucoidan.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1
Biological activities of fucoidan.
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