In vitro antioxidative activities of three marine oligosaccharides

Abstract

The antioxidant activities of three marine oligosaccharides, alginate oligosaccharides (AOs), chitosan oligosaccharides (COs), and fucoidan oligosaccharides (FOs), were investigated in vitro by several antioxidant assays, including hydroxyl radical scavenging, superoxide radical scavenging, erythrocyte hemolysis inhibiting, metal chelating activities, and anti-lipid peroxidation. The results show that these oligosaccharides exhibited different activities in various assays. AOs had the highest scavenging hydroxyl radical activity than FOs and COs at all the tested amounts. COs had the highest scavenging superoxide radical and inhibiting erythrocyte hemolysis activity than AOs and FOs at all the tested amounts. In the assay of chelating Fe²⁺, COs and FOs indicated good chelation while AOs hardly had any activity. In the assay of anti-lipid peroxidation, only COs had significantly high antioxidant activity.

Keywords:

• Alginate oligosaccharides
• Chitosan oligosaccharides
• Fucoidan oligosaccharides
• Antioxidant activities
• Free radicals
• Lipid peroxidation

Acknowledgement

This work was in part supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40506027) and Shandong Distinguished Middle-aged and Young Scientist Encourage and Reward Foundation (2005BS02015).