Fucoidan is the active component of Fucus vesiculosus that promotes contraction of fibroblast-populated collagen gels

The fibroblast-populated collagen gel culture method has been evaluated as a dermal model of wound contraction and granulation in tissues during the w ound healing process and as an in vitro model of dermal tissue. We previous ly reported that an extract of Fucus vesiculosus promoted fibroblast-popula ted collagen gel contraction and that the promotion of the gel contraction was due to the increased expression of integrin alpha 2 beta 1 on the surfa ce of the fibroblasts, In this study, we investigated the active component of the extract of this alga using extraction and fractionation techniques. Water extraction of the alga was followed by precipitation with excess etha nol and then gel filtration with the boundary molecular weight of 30000, Th e high molecular weight fraction obtained from gel filtration was fractiona ted by ion exchange chromatography on diethylaminoethyl cellulose column to give active fractions that have more polar properties. These polar, high m olecular weight fractions which contained molecules with fucose and sulfate groups showed significant gel contraction-promoting activity and integrin expression-enhancing activity and were estimated to be the sulfated-polysac charide fucoidan, Commercially available fucoidan showed similar activities to the above-described fraction of this alga, Although it remains necessar y to precisely identify the specific active component, the above results in dicate that fucoidan is the active component which promotes collagen gel co ntraction, and also indicate the possibility that it dose so by enhancing t he integrin alpha 2 beta 1 expression.