Document Type

Article

Disciplines

3. MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES

Abstract

Marine algal species comprise of a large portion of polysaccharides which have shown multifunctional properties and health benefits for treating and preventing human diseases. Laminarin, or β-glucan, a storage polysaccharide from brown algae, has been reported to have potential pharmacological properties such as antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-coagulant, anticancer, immunomodulatory, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, and neuroprotective potential. It has been widely investigated as a functional material in biomedical applications as it is biodegradable, biocompatible, and is low toxic substances. The reported preclinical and clinical studies demonstrate the potential of laminarin as natural alternative agents in biomedical and industrial applications such as nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, functional food, drug development/delivery, and cosmeceuticals. This review summarizes the biological activities of laminarin, including mechanisms of action, impacts on human health, and reported health benefits. Additionally, this review also provides an overview of recent advances and identifies gaps and opportunities for further research in this field. It further emphasizes the molecular characteristics and biological activities of laminarin in both preclinical and clinical settings for the prevention of the diseases and as potential therapeutic interventions.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3390/md20120772

Funder

This research was funded by Enterprise Ireland and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Career FIT PLUS grant agreement No. 68550 under project grant number MSCA20210184.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

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