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

Finfish diversity in Coleroon estuary, Southeast coast of India

104-109<span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:="" en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">Present study was undertaken to record diversity, species richness and species evenness of finfishes in Coleroon Estuary from May 2012 to April 2013.  A total of 59 species were recorded which belonged to 9 Orders, 26 Families and 30 Genera. Among them <span style="font-size: 9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:="" "ms="" mincho";mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-us;="" mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">Mugil cephalus was found most dominant species (23.5%). Values of Shannon diversity index, Simpson richness and Pielou's evenness for three zones varied from 1.5 to 3.2, 0.7 to 0.9 and 0.6 to 0.9 respectively. Maximum diversity and richness were recorded during summer (<span style="font-size:9.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:="" en-in;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">3.2<span style="font-size: 9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:="" "times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:="" en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">), (0.93) (June-2012) and the lowest during monsoon season (1.5), (0.73) (November-2012).  Percentage wise catches of fishes were in the Order Perciformes (85.42%) followed by Clupeiformes (6.60%), Siluriformes (2.47%), Gonorhynchiformes (1.83%), Pleuronectiformes (1.20%), Elopiformes (1.15%), Scorpaeniformes (0.99%), Beloniformes (0.35%) and Anguilliformes (0.19%). Maximum catches were in order Perciformes 79,508 kg and minimum catches was in Anguilliformes 180 kg.</span