In March, researchers from Temple University (TU) and the University of Delaware (UD) published results of a study in The Journal of Biological Chemistry explaining the mechanism the drug fucoidan uses to promote blood clotting. Fucoidan, a drug currently in clinical trials, is a carbohydrate (sulfated polysaccharide) derived from brown seaweed. The lead investigator of the study was Satya P. Kunapuli, PhD, director of TU's Sol Sherry Thrombosis Research Center in Philadelphia.
Normally, platelets in the blood work cooperatively with a series of clotting factors to form a clot and reinforce it. However, in people with bleeding disorders the process is disrupted. "When a blood vessel is injured in a person with hemophilia, the platelets, the "policemen" that are the first to respond, are fine, but some of the clo
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