Sulfated polysaccharides are known to be immune-stimulators in mammals and can be used as food additives to enhance immunity. In this study, the immune-stimulating activity of water-soluble anionic macromolecules F2 fractionation isolated from Codium fragile using ion-exchange chromatography was tested in olive flounder, Paralichythys olivaceus, in vitro and in vivo. The gene expression of interleukin (IL)-1β was adopted to check the immune-affection. As a result, in vitro study revealed that the expression of IL-1β was significantly upregulated in head kidney cells by 1 and 5 μg/ml of polysaccharides 4 h and by 5 μg/ml of polysaccharides at 24 h. In vivo, IL-1β gene expression in head kidney was significantly upregulated by 20 and 100 μg of the polysaccharides at day 1 post-i.p. injection, while downregulated at day 3 but not significant. Meanwhile, in peritoneal cells, it was upregulated by 20 μg of the polysaccharides at day 1 but the upregulation was sustained until day 3 though it was not significant. These results indicate that the sulfated polysaccharides from C. fragile are an immune-stimulator and might be potential feed additives for olive flounder.

For the last few decades, especially during summer Korean aquaculture industry has been huge economic loss due to massive blooms caused by Cochlodinium polykrikoides. Moreover, high dispersion speed along the coast and high cell densities (above 10,000 cells ml−1) of C. polykrikoides resuling in red tides for a longer duration (at least for 30 days). C. polykrikoides can be used as a prolific source of extracellular sulfated polysaccharides. Sulfated polysaccharides have showed strong antiviral properties against influenza virus. However, little has been investigated about industrial application of sulfated polysaccharides as a high valuable byproduct from C. polykrikoides. Current commercial microalgal biomass production systems are costly and require advanced instrumental and cultural facilities. From economic point of natural blooms of C. polykrikoides, therefore it is likely to be utilized as a cost-effective way of microalgal biomass production for commercial applications.