Isolation and characterization of fucoidan from four brown algae and study of the cardioprotective effect of fucoidan from Sargassum wightii against high glucose-induced oxidative stress in H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells

Oxidative stress plays a vital role in the initiation and progression of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Increased cardiac dysfunction and apoptosis in DCM are independent factors associated with hypertension or coronary artery disease. Fucoidan, a class of sulfated polysaccharides, is widely used as food supplements and reported to have various pharmacological properties. However, the pharmacological property of Indian seaweeds remains unexplored. The present study is focused on isolating and characterizing the fucoidan from four brown seaweeds such as Sargassum wightii (SwF), Sargassum swartzii (SsF), Sargassum polycystum (SpF), Turbinaria ornata (ToF), and aimed to investigate cardioprotective effect of fucoidan against High Glucose (HG) induced oxidative stress in H9c2 cells. The mild acid hydrolysis method was used to isolate crude fucoidan from four brown seaweeds purified by the FPLC system. The biochemical composition analysis showed that SwF had a high content of fucoidan and sulfate, followed by SsF, SpF, and ToF. Further, FTIR, XRD, NMR, and SEM analysis confirmed the isolated fucoidan structures. SwF showed higher DPPH activity compared to another isolated fucoidan. In vitro studies with SwF revealed significantly decreased cytotoxicity, prevented the loss of MMP, reduced lipid peroxidation, and increased cellular enzymatic and non-enzymatic activity. qRT-PCR results showed SwF significantly upregulated the Nrf2, HO-1, NQO1, and Bcl2 and down-regulated the Bax and Caspase-3 mRNA expression compared to HG-treated cells. In conclusion, SwF could be used to develop functional foods for diabetic-mediated CVD complications compared to another isolated fucoidan. Practical applications Bioactive carbohydrates have gained significant interest among researchers to improve human health. The biomedical field showed great interest in seaweed research in managing various diseases. In particular, seaweeds contain many bioactive compounds because of their chemical and biological diversity. Despite the various beneficial effects of fucoidan in CVD, the therapeutic potential of Indian seaweeds remains largely unexplored. Hence, this study isolated fucoidan from four brown seaweeds and studied their bioactive properties. Results revealed that SwF showed higher free radical scavenging activity compared to another isolated fucoidan. Therefore, SwF was selected for the in vitro study. SwF increased the cytoprotection through increasing antioxidant levels against oxidative stress in H9c2 cells. Staining analysis showed SwF increased cellular protection via inhibiting ROS protection and increasing MMP. Overall, fucoidan from SwF could be developed as a functional food for CVD.