The antimitogenic action of the sulphated polysaccharide fucoidan differs from heparin in human vascular smooth muscle cells.

The sulphated polysaccharides fucoidan and heparin both inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation. In this study we compared their actions on mitogenesis and ERK1/ERK2 activation in human VSMC. Although they displaced cell surface [3H]-heparin binding with similar affinity, they exerted clearly distinguishable actions.