Carrageenan oligosaccharides are the degradation products of carrageenan. Carrageenan oligosaccharide has small molecular weight, good solubility and easy absorption. Because of its unique structure, it has broad-spectrum antiviral activity.
The antiviral effect of carrageenan oligosaccharides mainly occurs in the early stage of virus replication, including virus adsorption, invasion, uncoating, transcription and genome replication, and a few occur in protein translation stage. In addition, carrageenan oligosaccharides can play an antiviral role by directly killing the virus or by enhancing the host's immunity and inducing antiviral factors.
With the continuous emergence of new viral diseases such as SARS, avian flu and swine flu, it has brought great threat to human health. Traditional antiviral drugs often have some disadvantages, such as high toxicity and side effects or easy to develop drug resistance. As a new antiviral drug, carrageenan oligosaccharide has a broad prospect of development and application.