Fucoidans are sulfated fucose-based polysaccharides that activate platelets and have pro- and anticoagulant effects; thus, they may have therapeutic value. In the present study, we show that 2 synthetic sulfated a-l-fucoside-pendant glycopolymers (with average monomeric units of 13 and 329) and natural fucoidans activate human platelets through a Src- and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-dependent and Syk-independent signaling cascade downstream of the platelet endothelial aggregation receptor 1 (PEAR1). Synthetic glycopolymers and natural fucoidan stimulate marked phosphorylation of PEAR1 and Akt, but not Syk. Platelet aggregation and Akt phosphorylation induced by natural fucoidan and synthetic glycopolymers are blocked by a monoclonal antibody to PEAR1. Direct binding of sulfated glycopolymers to epidermal like growth factor (EGF)-like repeat 13 of PEAR1 was shown by avidity-based extracellular protein interaction screen technology. In contrast, synthetic glycopolymers and natural fucoidans activate mouse platelets through a Src- and Syk-dependent pathway regulated by C-type lectin-like receptor 2 (CLEC-2) with only a minor role for PEAR1. Mouse platelets lacking the extracellular domain of GPIba and human platelets treated with GPIba-blocking antibodies display a reduced aggregation response to synthetic glycopolymers. We found that synthetic sulfated glycopolymers bind directly to GPIba, substantiating that GPIba facilitates the interaction of synthetic glycopolymers with CLEC-2 or PEAR1. Our results establish PEAR1 as the major signaling receptor for natural fucose-based polysaccharides and synthetic glycopolymers in human, but not in mouse, platelets. Sulfated a-l-fucoside-pendant glycopolymers are unique tools for further investigation of the physiological role of PEAR1 in platelets and beyond.

The marine polysaccharide fucoidan has demonstrated several interesting biological properties, for instance being antiviral, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and platelet activating. Many of these properties are desirable for various biomedical applications. Yet, there are few reports on fucoidan being used in such applications. The reasons for this are primarily the heterogeneity and low structural reproducibility of fucoidan.

This thesis describes the synthesis of polymers with pendant saccharides bearing the key structural features of fucoidan. These glycopolymers were synthesized via different radical polymerization techniques yielding polymers of different chain lengths and dispersity. These glycopolymers showed antiviral and platelet activating properties similar to those of natural fucoidan, thus making them fucoidan-mimetic glycopolymers. However, compared to fucoidan from natural sources, the fucoidan-mimetic glycopolymers had homogeneous and reproducible structures making them suitable for biomedical applications.

Further studies demonstrated that platelet activation, caused by these glycopolymers, showed dose-response curves almost identical to fucoidan. The platelet activation was induced via intracellular signaling and caused platelet surface changes similar to those of fucoidan. Fucoidan-mimetic glycopolymers can therefore be used as unique biomolecular tools for studying the molecular and cellular responses of human platelets.

Fucoidan-mimetic glycopolymers generally assert their antiviral activity by blocking viral entry to host cells, thus inhibiting spreading of the viral infection but not acting virucidal, i.e. not killing the viruses. Introduction of hydrophobic groups to the polymer’s chain ends improved the antiviral properties significantly and is an important step towards yielding glycopolymers with virucidal properties.

The fucoidan-mimetic glycopolymers were also applied as capping agents when synthesizing gold nanoparticles. These fucoidan-mimetic glycopolymer coated gold nanoparticles showed improved colloidal stability compared to uncapped gold nanoparticles. Furthermore, the nanoparticles also demonstrated selective cytotoxicity against a human colon cancer cell line over fibroblast cells.

Gold nanoparticles coated with fucoidan-mimetic glycopolymers were synthesized that displayed good colloidal stability and promising anti-cancer properties. Fucoidan mimetic glycopolymers on their own were nontoxic, while glycopolymer coated gold nanoparticles displayed selective cytotoxicity to human colon cancer cell lines (HCT116) while it was non-toxic to mouse fibroblast cells (NIH3T3).

The sulfated marine polysaccharide fucoidan has been reported to have health benefits ranging from antivirus and anticancer properties to modulation of high blood pressure. Hence, they could enhance the biological function of materials for biomedical applications. However, the incorporation of fucoidan into biomaterials has been difficult, possibly due to its complex structure and lack of suitable functional groups for covalent anchoring to biomaterials. We have developed an approach for a rapid synthesis of fucoidanmimetic glycopolymer chains through cyanoxyl-mediated free-radical polymerization, a method suitable for chain-end functionalizing and subsequent linkage to biomaterials. The resulting sulfated and nonsulfated methacrylamido alpha-L-fucoside glycopolymers fucoidan-mimetic properties were studied in HSV-1 infection and platelet activation assays. The sulfated glycopolymer showed similar properties to natural fucoidan in inducing platelet activation and inhibiting HSV-1 binding and entry to cells, thus indicating successful syntheses of fucoidan-mimetic glycopolymers.

The length scale for nanomaterial is small enough to be invisible and presume innocence for the initial avoidance of the toxicity issues. Again it was beyond the understanding of the time frame when nanotechnology just blooms that a length scale itself might be an important toxic parameter apart from its materialistic properties. We present this report to address the fundamental issues and questions related to the nanotoxicity issues from laboratory to the land of applications. We emphasize about the basic nanoscale materials that are regularly being used by the scientific community and the nanotechnology based materials that has already in the market or will come soon.