ANTITUMOR ACTIVE FUCOIDAN FROM THE BROWN SEAWEED, UMITORANOO (SARGASSUM-THUNBERGII)

Neutral and acidic polysaccharides and their protein complexes were fractionated and purified from the brown seaweed umitoranoo (Sargassum thunbergii) by fractional extraction, iron-exchange chromatography, and gel filtration. Thirty-one polysaccharide fractions were obtained and tested for antitumor activity in mice with Ehrlich carcinoma transplanted i.p. Two of the fractions, GIV-A ([alpha](25)(D) -127 degrees and mol. wt., 19,000) and GIV-B ([alpha](25)(D) -110 degrees and mol. wt., 13,500) had such activity, On the basis of chemical and spectral analyses, these compounds were found to be a fucoidan or L-fucan containing approx, 30% sulfate ester groups per fucose residue, about 10% uronic acid, and less than 2% protein.