Macromolecular properties and hypolipidemic effects of four sulfated polysaccharides from sea cucumbers

The present study investigates the relationship between the high-order structure and hypolipidemic activity of four well-defined sulfated fucans from sea cucumber. The chain conformation, determined by a combination of AFM and SEC-MALLS-RI, indicate that fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (fCS) from Pearsono thuria graeffei (fCS-Pg) and Isostichopus badionotus (fCS-Ib), and fucoidan from Pgraeffei (fuc-Pg) were assigned as a random coil conformation with polysaccharide chain outstretched, while I. badionotus (fuc-Ib) was assigned as a spherical conformation and exhibited high viscosity. Fuc-Pg and fuc-Ib with higher molecular weights had a greater impact in inhibiting pancreatic lipase activity in vitro. However, fCS-Pg, fCS-lb and fuc-Pg with random linear conformation exhibited excellent hypolipidemic activity in SpragueDawley rats (SD rats) fed on high-fat diet (HFD), whereas fuc-Ib showed only a modest effect. Our results indicate that structural characteristics, including side branch and sulfation pattern can affect the chain conformation of polysaccharides, which determine their physicochemical properties and hypolipidemic activity. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.