Intestinal Absorption of Fucoidan Extracted from the Brown Seaweed, Cladosiphon okamuranus

Marine Drugs

Takeaki Nagamine²  Kyoumi Nakazato²  Satoru Tomioka²  Masahiko Iha¹  Katsuyuki Nakajima² 

[1] South Product, Co., Ltd., Uruma, Okinawa 904-1103, Japan; E-Mail:;Graduate School of Health Sciences, Gunma University, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8514, Japan; E-Mails:

关键词: fucoidan;    intestinal absorption;    macrophage;    Kupffer cells;    Caco-2 cells;   

DOI  :  10.3390/md13010048

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The aim of this study was to examine the absorption of fucoidan through the intestinal tract. Fucoidan (0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg/mL) was added to Transwell inserts containing Caco-2 cells. The transport of fucoidan across Caco-2 cells increased in a dose-dependent manner up to 1.0 mg/mL. It reached a maximum after 1 h and then rapidly decreased. In another experiment, rats were fed standard chow containing 2% fucoidan for one or two weeks. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that fucoidan accumulated in jejunal epithelial cells, mononuclear cells in the jejunal lamina propria and sinusoidal non-parenchymal cells in the liver. Since we previously speculated that nitrosamine may enhance the intestinal absorption of fucoidan, its absorption was estimated in rats administered N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine (BBN) in their drinking water. Rats were fed 0.2% fucoidan chow (BBN + 0.2% fucoidan rats), 2% fucoidan chow (BBN + 2% fucoidan rats) and standard chow for eight weeks. The uptake of fucoidan through the intestinal tract seemed to be low, but was measurable by our ELISA method. Fucoidan-positive cells were abundant in the small intestinal mucosa of BBN + 2% fucoidan rats. Most fucoidan-positive cells also stained positive for ED1, suggesting that fucoidan was incorporated into intestinal macrophages. The uptake of fucoidan by Kupffer cells was observed in the livers of BBN + 2% fucoidan rats. In conclusion, the absorption of fucoidan through the small intestine was demonstrated both in vivo and in vitro.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.