Preliminary studies on the chemical characterization and antihyperlipidemic activity of polysaccharide from the brown alga Sargassum fusiforme

A polysaccharide (SFP) extracted from the brown alga Sargassum fusiforme (Harv.) Setch. was purified by chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A50 and Sephadex G-100. Studies using paper chromatography (PC), electrophoresis and infrared spectroscopy (IR) indicated that SFP was a kind of alginate with a molecular weight of 16?000 and a molar ratio of mannuronic acid (M) to guluronic acid (G) of 2.75. Pharmacological experiments showed that SFP could markedly decrease the content of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) in the serum of experimental hyperlipidemic rats, and significantly increase the level of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C).