[Antithrombotic and hemorrhagic activities of fucoidan isolated from Fucus evanescens brown algae]

The antithrombotic and hemorrhagic activities of fucoidan with molecular weight within 20 - 40 kD isolation from Fucus evanescens seaweed have been investigated. The antithrombin activity of fucoidan is 41 +/- 9 aIIa IU/mg and the anti-factor Oà activity is 38 +/- 8 aOà IU/mg. The antithrombin and anti-factor Oà activities of plasma, antithrombotic activity (100% prevention of formation of a blood clot observed at a dose of 10 mg/kg), and hemorrhagic activity (to a lesser degree, than that of unfractionated heparin in comparable antithrombotic activity doses) increase as the doses of fucoidan increases from 2.5 to 10 mg/kg at intravenous injection in rats.