Immunomodulating Activity of a Fucoidan Isolated from Korean Undaria pinnatifida Sporophyll

doi:2007.22.4.333

Algae > Volume 22(4); 2007 > Article

Algae 2007;22(4): 333-338. doi: https://doi.org/10.4490/algae.2007.22.4.333

Yung-Choon Yoo¹, Woo-Jung Kim², So-Yeon Kim¹, Sung-Min Kim², Mi-Kyung Chung³, Joo-Woong Park³, Hyun-Hyo Suh⁴, Kyung-Bok Lee¹ and Yong-Il Park²^*

¹Dept. of Microbiology, Konyang University, Konyang University Hospital 685, Gasuwon-dong, Daejeon 302-718, Korea
²Dept. of Biotechnology and The Biomaterial Engineering Research Center, The Catholic University of Korea, 43-1 Yokkok 2-dong, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do 420-743, Korea
³Biomedicine Research Group, Hanrib LifeTech, Bio 21 Center, Munsan, Jinju, Gyeongnam 600-844, Korea
⁴Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Jinju National University, Jinju, Gyeongnam 660-758, Korea

ABSTRACT

A fucoidan, isolated from Korean Undaria pinnatifida spoprophyll (UP-F), was investigated for its immunomodulating activity on murine macrophages and splenocytes, and its activity was compared with that of fucoidan from Fucus vesiculosus (FV-F). Treatment of UP-F resulted in inhibition of the growth of murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells, but its cytotoxicity was not observed in normal murine splenocytes. FV-F was shown to be highly cytotoxic to both immune cells, and its cytotoxic activity was higher than that of UP-F. Treatment of UP-F induced TNF-α in a dose-dependent manner from two types of macrophages, RAW 264.7 cells and murine peritoneal macrophages. The TNF-α-inducing activity of UP-F was higher than that of FV-F. UP-F also actively induced chemokines (RANTES and MIP-1α) from RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, treatment of UP-F gave rise to activation of murine splenocytes to produce cytokine (IL-6) and chemokines (RANTES and MIP-1α), showing significantly higher activity than that of FV-F. These results indicate that UP-F is less cytotoxic to immune cells than FV-F, and possesses immunomodulating activity to produce cytokines and chemokines from macrophages and splenocytes.

Key words: fucoidan, immunomodulating activity, Undaria pinnatifida sporophyll