Mar. Drugs 2012, 10(11), 2560-2570; doi:10.3390/md10112560
Article

Effect of Fucoidan Extracted from Mozuku on Experimental Cartilaginous Tissue Injury

Tomohiro Osaki 1,* email, Koudai Kitahara 1 email, Yoshiharu Okamoto 1 email, Tomohiro Imagawa 1 email, Takeshi Tsuka 1 email, Yasunari Miki 2 email, Hitoshi Kawamoto 2 email, Hiroyuki Saimoto 3 email and Saburo Minami 1 email
1 Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyama Minami, Tottori 680-8553, Japan 2 Marine Products Kimuraya, 3307 Watari, Sakaiminato, Tottori 684-0072, Japan 3 Graduate School of Engineering, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyama Minami, Tottori 680-8553, Japan
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 20 August 2012; in revised form: 25 October 2012 / Accepted: 6 November 2012 / Published: 13 November 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Polysaccharides)
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Abstract: We investigated the effect of fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide, on acceleration of healing of experimental cartilage injury in a rabbit model. An injured cartilage model was surgically created by introduction of three holes, one in the articular cartilage of the medial trochlea and two in the trochlear sulcus of the distal femur. Rabbits in three experimental groups (F groups) were orally administered fucoidan of seven different molecular weights (8, 50, 146, 239, 330, 400, or 1000 kD) for 3 weeks by screening. Control (C group) rabbits were provided water ad libitum. After the experimental period, macroscopic examination showed that the degree of filling in the fucoidan group was higher than that in the C group. Histologically, the holes were filled by collagen fiber and fibroblasts in the C group, and by chondroblasts and fibroblasts in the F groups. Image analysis of Alcian blue- and safranin O-stained F-group specimens showed increased production of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and proteoglycans (PGs), respectively. Some injured holes were well repaired both macroscopically and microscopically and were filled with cartilage tissues; cartilage matrices such as PGs and GAGs were produced in groups F 50, F 146, and F 239. Thus, fucoidan administration enhanced morphologically healing of cartilage injury.
Keywords: articular cartilage; fucoidan; rabbit

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Osaki, T.; Kitahara, K.; Okamoto, Y.; Imagawa, T.; Tsuka, T.; Miki, Y.; Kawamoto, H.; Saimoto, H.; Minami, S. Effect of Fucoidan Extracted from Mozuku on Experimental Cartilaginous Tissue Injury. Mar. Drugs 2012, 10, 2560-2570.

AMA Style

Osaki T, Kitahara K, Okamoto Y, Imagawa T, Tsuka T, Miki Y, Kawamoto H, Saimoto H, Minami S. Effect of Fucoidan Extracted from Mozuku on Experimental Cartilaginous Tissue Injury. Marine Drugs. 2012; 10(11):2560-2570.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Osaki, Tomohiro; Kitahara, Koudai; Okamoto, Yoshiharu; Imagawa, Tomohiro; Tsuka, Takeshi; Miki, Yasunari; Kawamoto, Hitoshi; Saimoto, Hiroyuki; Minami, Saburo. 2012. "Effect of Fucoidan Extracted from Mozuku on Experimental Cartilaginous Tissue Injury." Mar. Drugs 10, no. 11: 2560-2570.

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