title: A 4-week repeated oral dose toxicity study of fucoidan from the Sporophyll of Undaria pinnatifida in Sprague-Dawley rats.
abstract: Fucoidan is extracted from brown seaweeds, which can have anti-coagulant, antithrombotic, antitumor, and antiviral activities. However, detailed studies on the toxicology of fucoidan have not been performed. Here we tested the toxicity of fucoidan in Sprague-Dawley rats. Fucoidan (1350mg/kg bw/day for 4 weeks) did not induce statistically significant differences in groups matched by gender with respect to body weight, ophthalmoscopy, urinalysis, hematology, and histopathology. Fucoidan did not change prothrombin time or activated partial thromboplastin time, indicating an inability to change blood clotting. This study demonstrated that fucoidan is not toxic under this administration paradigm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, CHA University, Seongnam 463-836, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kui-Jin
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ok-Hwan
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hee-Hyun
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Boo-Yong
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000633:toxicity; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000633:toxicity; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000633:toxicity; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D004326:Drinking / Q000187:drug effects; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents / Q000633:toxicity; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D018675:Toxicity Tests; D044648:Undaria / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents; D011134:Polysaccharides; C007789:fucoidan