Chadwick Matthew, Carvalho Loïc G, Vanegas Carlos, Dimartino Simone
Institute for Bioengineering, The School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3DW, UK.
BioMara Ltd., 83 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 2ER, UK.
Mar Drugs. 2025 Jan 7;23(1):27. doi: 10.3390/md23010027.
Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide found in brown seaweed. Due to its reported biological activities, including antiviral, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities, it has garnered significant attention for potential biomedical applications. However, the direct relationship between fucoidan extracts' chemical structures and bioactivities is unclear, making it extremely challenging to predict whether an extract will possess a given bioactivity. This relationship is further complicated by a lack of uniformity in the recent literature in terms of the assessment and reporting of extract properties, yield and chemical composition (e.g., sulfate, fucose, uronic acid and monosaccharide contents). These inconsistencies pose significant challenges when directly comparing extraction techniques across studies. This review collected data on extract contents and properties from a selection of available studies. Where information was unavailable directly, efforts were made to extrapolate data. This approach enabled a comprehensive examination of the correlation between extraction techniques and the characteristics of the resulting extracts. A holistic framework is presented for the selection of fucoidan extraction methods, outlining key heuristics to consider when capturing the broader context of a seaweed bioprocess. Future work should focus on developing knowledge within these heuristic categories, such as the creation of technoeconomic models of each extraction process. This framework should allow for a robust extraction selection process that integrates process scale, cost and constraints into decision making. Key quality attributes for biologically active fucoidan are proposed, and areas for future research are identified, such as studies for specific bioactivities aimed at elucidating fucoidan's mechanism of action. This review also sets out future work required to standardize the reporting of fucoidan extract data. Standardization could positively enhance the quality and depth of data on fucoidan extracts, enabling the relationships between physical, chemical and bioactive properties to be identified. Recommendations on best practices for the production of high-quality fucoidan with desirable yield, characteristics and bioactivity are highlighted.
岩藻依聚糖是一种存在于褐藻中的硫酸化多糖。由于其具有抗病毒、抗菌和抗炎等报道的生物活性，它在潜在生物医学应用方面受到了广泛关注。然而，岩藻依聚糖提取物的化学结构与生物活性之间的直接关系尚不清楚，这使得预测一种提取物是否具有特定生物活性极具挑战性。近期文献在提取物性质、产量和化学成分（如硫酸盐、岩藻糖、糖醛酸和单糖含量）的评估和报告方面缺乏一致性，这进一步加剧了这种关系的复杂性。当直接比较不同研究中的提取技术时，这些不一致带来了重大挑战。本综述收集了一系列现有研究中提取物含量和性质的数据。在无法直接获取信息的情况下，努力进行数据外推。这种方法能够全面考察提取技术与所得提取物特性之间的相关性。提出了一个用于选择岩藻依聚糖提取方法的整体框架，概述了在把握海藻生物过程更广泛背景时应考虑的关键启发式方法。未来的工作应专注于在这些启发式类别中发展知识，例如创建每个提取过程的技术经济模型。该框架应允许进行稳健的提取选择过程，将工艺规模、成本和限制因素纳入决策。提出了具有生物活性的岩藻依聚糖的关键质量属性，并确定了未来研究的领域，如针对特定生物活性的研究以阐明岩藻依聚糖的作用机制。本综述还阐述了规范岩藻依聚糖提取物数据报告所需的未来工作。标准化可以积极提高岩藻依聚糖提取物数据的质量和深度，从而确定物理、化学和生物活性性质之间的关系。强调了关于生产具有理想产量、特性和生物活性的高质量岩藻依聚糖的最佳实践建议。
