The Potential of Fucose-Containing Sulfated Polysaccharides As Scaffolds for Biomedical Applications

authors	Nunes, C; Coimbra, MA
nationality	International
journal	CURRENT MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY
author keywords	Fucans; fucoidans; antitumoral; structural characteristics; delivery devices; tissue engineering
keywords	IRON-OXIDE NANOPARTICLES; BROWN-ALGAE; IN-VITRO; SURFACE MODIFICATION; STRUCTURAL FEATURES; ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITY; FUCOIDAN; CHITOSAN; CANCER; ANTICOAGULANT
abstract	Marine environments have a high quantity and diversity of sulfated polysaccharides. In coastal regions brown algae are the most abundant biomass producers and their cell walls have fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharides (FCSP), known as fucans and/or fucoidans. These sulfated compounds have been widely researched for their biomedical properties, namely the immunomodulatory, haemostasis, pathogen inhibition, anti-inflammatory capacity, and antitumoral. These activities are probably due to their ability to mimic the carbohydrate moieties of mammalian glycosaminoglycans. Therefore, the FCSP are interesting compounds for application in health-related subjects, mainly for developing scaffolds for delivery systems or tissue regeneration. FCSP showed potential for these applications also due to their ability to form stable 3D structures with other polymers able to entrap therapeutic agents or cell and growth factors, besides their biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, for the clinical use of these biopolymers well-defined reproducible molecules are required in order to accurately establish relationships between structural features and human health applications.
publisher	BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBL LTD
issn	0929-8673
isbn	1875-533X
year published	2019
volume	26
issue	35
beginning page	6399
ending page	6411
digital object identifier (doi)	10.2174/0929867326666181213093718
web of science category	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Chemistry, Medicinal; Pharmacology & Pharmacy
subject category	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Pharmacology & Pharmacy
unique article identifier	WOS:000502614500004