Extracting Glycosaminoglycan compounds from Sepia pharaonis Squid’s tentacles and Examining their Antithrombotic Property of these compounds

In recent years, many bioactive compounds has been extracted, described and purified from cephalopods. These invertebrates are a very rich source of sulfated polysaccharides with new structures.  The aim of this study was investigation of anticoagulant Glycosaminoglycans extracted from Sepia Pharaonis tentacles. Following the separation of their tentacles terminal portion, 21g of the wet weight was freeze-dried. First, glycosaminoglycans were extracted using 5g wet weight and 4g dry weight, separately, by Cetyl Piridinium Chloride cationic salt. In order to do identification of extracted glycosaminoglycans and compare with heparin, the FTIR spectrum was used. Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) and the Prothrombin Time (PT) methods were used for anticoagulation properties. Results showed that 5g (wet weight) and 4 g (dry weight) of tentacles contain 250 and 800 mg of the Glycosaminoglycan, respectively. Also, the FTIR spectrum results confirmed the presence of heparin-like compositions among extracted glycosaminoglycans. Investigating the anticoagulation properties indicated that the extracted compositions have this property and increasing concentration enhance the clotting time of the human blood, significantly. According to the present study results, squid tentacles contain glycosaminoglycans which could act like heparin but significantly weaker antithrombotic feature than heparin.