Preparation and anticoagulant activity of a fucosylated polysaccharide sulfate from a sea cucumber Acaudina molpadioidea

A fucosylated polysaccharide sulfate, AMP-2, was purified by DEAE-Sepharose Fast Flow and Sephadex G-100 columns in successive steps from a special sea cucumber in southeastern China. HPLC and cellulose acetate membrane electrophoresis experiments confirmed AMP-2 was a homogenous carbohydrate with a relative molecular weight of ca. 2.4 × 104 Da, and methylation analysis indicated that polysaccharide was composed of 1-substituted-Galp, 1,4-disubstituted-GalNp, 1,2-disubstituted-FucSp, 1,4,6-trisubstituted-Glcp in a molar ratio of ca. 0.5:2.0:1.0:3.0, together with a small amount of different substituted Manp. Sulfated derivative and carboxymethylated derivative were prepared using dry pyridine and chlorosulfonic acid, and chloroacetic acid, respectively. Anticoagulant activities in vitro investigation showed that sulfated derivative showed a stronger ability than native polysaccharide and carboxymethylated derivative, which might be caused by their different percentages and types of functional groups in their structures.