Isolation and characterization of anticoagulant compound from marine mollusc Donax faba (Gmelin, 1791) from Thazhanguda, Southeast Coast of India

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are linear polysaccharides found in the extracellular matrix and biological fluids of animals where they interact with hundreds of proteins and perform a variety of critical roles. There are five classes of animal GAGs: heparan sulfate (HS), chondroitin sulfate (CS), dermatan sulfate (DS), keratan sulfate (KS) and hyaluronan (HA). Many biological functions can be monitored directly by their impact on GAG quantity. In the present study, glycosaminoglycans were isolated from marine bivalve Donax faba. The amount of crude GAG was estimated as 12 gm/kg and of tissue in D. faba. After purification using gel chromatography, the yield was found to be 0.83 mg/kg. The bivalve showed the anticoagulant activity of the crude and purified samples 58 and 114 USP units/mg correspondingly in D. faba. The structural characterization of anticoagulant GAG was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Among the marine bivalve, D. faba purified showed more anticoagulant activity than that of crude sample. The results of this study suggest that the GAG from D. faba could be an alternative source of heparin.Keywords: Donax faba, GAGs crude and purified, anticoagulant activity, Fourier transform- infra red (FTIR).African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(40), pp. 5968-597