Study on the neovascularization of limb ischemia induced by pretreatment with fucoidan

【Background】Peripheral artery disease（ PAD） caused the poor prognosis of the patients. The life style intervention is necessary to protect patients from PAD. Fucoidan is the member of the polysaccharide originated from Mozuku sea weed, which is useful supplement for life style related disease. 【Purpose】We examined whether fucoidan could improve limb ischemic lesions in mice and rats. 【Method and Result】We created the ischemic limb model of mice and rats and evaluated their blood flow using the laser Doppler blood perfusion. We separated them into three groups, control group （without any treatment），post-treatment group （treated with fucoidan after ischemia for 4 weeks），and pre- and post-treatment group （treated with fucoidan before ischemia for 1 week and after ischemia for 4 weeks）．Fucoidan significantly improved the blood perfusion of ischemic limb in pre- and post-treatment group compared to those in control group. Neovascularization was remarkably increased in muscle of ischemic limb in pre- and post-treatment group compared to those in control group. Fucoidan did not improve either the blood perfusion or neovascularization in post-treatment group. 【Conclusion】Pretreatment with fucoidan through oral administration would be a promising supplement for protection from PAD