Search

Edible snails have been widely used as a health food and medicine in many countries. A unique glycosaminoglycan (AF-GAG) was purified from Achatina fulica . Its structure was analyzed and characterized by chemical and instrumental methods, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, analysis of monosaccharide composition, and 1D/2D nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Chemical composition analysis indicated that AF-GAG is composed of iduronic acid (IdoA) and N -acetyl-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and its average molecular weight is 118 kDa. Structural analysis clarified that the uronic acid unit in glycosaminoglycan (GAG) is the fully epimerized and the sequence of AF-GAG is →4)-α-GlcNAc (1 → 4)-α-IdoA2S (1→. Although its structure with a uniform repeating disaccharide is similar to those of heparin and heparan sulfate, this GAG is structurally highly regular and homogeneous. Anticoagulant activity assays indicated that AF-GAG exhibits no anticoagulant activities, but considering its structural characteristic, other bioactivities such as heparanase inhibition may be worthy of further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel FG (AmFG) were extracted from sea cucumber Acaudina molpadioides. • The structures of eight oligosaccharides from depolymerized AmFG were determined. • AmFG branched with unusual disaccharide GalNAc-α1,2-Fuc, besides monosaccharides. • The anticoagulant and anti-iXase activities of AmFG and oligomers were discussed. A fucosylated glycosaminoglycan (AmFG) was extracted from the sea cucumber Acaudina molpadioides. And a series of oligosaccharides were purified from the size-homogeneous fractions, which were prepared from the β-eliminative depolymerized AmFG. According to "bottom-up" strategy, the precise structure of AmFG was elucidated by analyzing the structures of these purified oligosaccharides, combining with NMR analysis of its free-radical depolymerized product. It contained a CS-E-like backbone, and each GlcUA was branched with a mono- or di-sulfated fucose (Fuc) at O -3. Intriguingly, besides two types of monosaccharide branches, Fuc 2S4S (60 %) and Fuc 4S (25 %), that were common in FG, AmFG also contained an unusual disaccharide branch GalNAc-α1,2-Fuc 3S4S (15 %); this is the first report of such a structure in a glycosaminoglycan. Biological assays indicated that native AmFG and its oligosaccharides had potent anticoagulant and intrinsic tenase (iXase) inhibitory activities in a chain length-dependent manner. For these oligosaccharides, octasaccharide was the minimum structural fragment for potent anti-iXase activity, and the disaccharide branch might enhance this activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]