Anticoagulant and antithrombin activities of oversulfated fucans

Three species of oversulfated fucans having different sulfate contents (the ratio of sulfate/total sugar residues, 1.38-1.98) were prepared by chemical sulfation of a fucan sulfate (sulfate/sugar ratio, 1.28) isolated from the brown seaweed Ecklonia kurome. The anticoagulant activities of the oversulfated fucans were compared with that of a parent fucan with respect to activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and thrombin time (TT) in plasma. The respective activities (for APTT and TT) of the oversulfated fucans increased to 110-119% and 108-140% of the original values with increase in their sulfate content. The anticoagulant activity with respect to APTT (173 units/mg) of an oversulfated fucan (sulfate/sugar ratio, 1.98) was higher than that (167 units/mg) of heparin used as a standard. The heparin cofactor II-mediated antithrombin activity of the oversulfated fucans also increased significantly with increase in sulfate content. The maximum activity was higher than those of the parent fucan and heparin. However, the increment of the anticoagulant and the antithrombin effects gradually decreased with increase in the sulfate content of the fucans. These results indicate that the effects of the fucan sulfate are dependent on its sulfate content until a plateau is reached.