Sulfated polysaccharide from Undaria pinnatifida stabilizes the atherosclerotic plaque via enhancing the dominance of the stabilizing components.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stable effect and mechanism of sulfated polysaccharide from Undaria pinnatifida (SPUP) on atherosclerotic plaque. The results showed that atherosclerotic plaques in the ApoE-/- mice of high-fat diet model group increased significantly without drug intervention. The content of vulnerable components (lipid, inflammatory macrophage) increased significantly, and the content of stability components (smooth muscle cell, collagen) reduced significantly. However, it could find that atherosclerotic plaque areas were decreased in a dose-dependent manner after SPUP intervention. SPUP could enhance the dominance of the stability components in plaque, and reduce the content of vulnerable component. Furthermore, SPUP could significantly reduce the matrix metalloprotein-9 content in atherosclerotic plaque. These results suggested that SPUP could stabilize atherosclerotic plaque by enhancing the dominance of the stability components content, reducing the vulnerability components content, and lowering the vulnerability index value.