fucoidan extracted from fucus evanescens prevents endotoxin-induced damage in a mouse model of endotoxemia

An important problem of treating patients with endotoxemia is to find drugs to reduce the negative effects of endotoxin on the organism. We tested fucoidan (sulfated polysaccharide) from the brown alga Fucus evanescens as a potential drug in a mouse model of endotoxemia inducted by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The survival time of mice injected with LPS increased under fucoidan treatment compared with the group of mice injected with LPS only. The preventive administration of fucoidan to mice with endotoxemia resulted in inhibition of increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines (TNFα and IL-6), as well as decreasing of the processes of hypercoagulability. The parenteral or per os administration of fucoidan resulted in decreasing the degree of microcirculatory disorders and secondary dystrophic-destructive changes in parenchymal organs of mice with endotoxemia. Taken together, these results demonstrate that fucoidan prevents endotoxin-induced damage in a mouse model of endotoxemia and increases the mice’s resistance to LPS.