Potential of fucoidan from myriogloea major asensi as antiviral against herpes simplex type 1 and 2 and bovine coronavirus

Abstract

Fucoidans are fucose-rich sulfated polysaccharides that display a wide array of biological properties and are found mainly in brown seaweeds. These compounds possess interesting pharmacological perspectives for antiviral and antioxidant drug development. Myriogloea major Asensi (Chordariaceae; Ectocarpales) is an endemic brown seaweed from Argentine Patagonia similar to other members of the Chordariaceae family used as a commercial fucoidan source. This alga is a potential resource and the fucoidans obtained from it have not been studied until now. In this work, we studied the chemical composition and the anti- HSV-1, HSV-2 and Bovine Coronavirus, and antioxidant activity of fucoidan extracts from M. major thalli. The dry weights from two pooled extracts represented 42% of the extracted dried biomass. Chemical analysis showed that the extracts contained between 15 and 20% of sulfates and approximately 80% of fucose constituents on their polysaccharides. The total phenolic content was lower than 1% (Gallic acid equivalents) and antioxidant activity was lower than 50% at a concentration of 1 mg/ml in both extracts. We demonstrated that in the presence of fucoidan extracts the viral attachment to the cell was reduced by up to 75%; applying its antiviral action to block the viral infection, this way the progeny virus released from host cells was significantly restricted, without affecting cell-to-cell spread orvirus viability.