Anticoagulant effect of marine algae.

Marine Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Pukyong National University, Busan, Republic of Korea. sknkim@pknu.ac.kr

Advances in food and nutrition research 2011

Recently, a great deal of interest has been developed in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries to isolate natural anticoagulant compounds from marine resources. Among marine resources, marine algae are valuable sources of novel bioactive compounds with anticoagulant effect. Phlorotannins and sulfated polysaccharides such as fucoidans in brown algae, carrageenans in red algae, and ulvans in green algae have been recognized as potential anticoagulant agents. Therefore, marine algae-derived phlorotannins and SPs have great potential for developing as anticoagulant drugs in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical areas. This chapter focuses on the potential anticoagulant agents in marine algae and presents an overview of their anticoagulant effect. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.