The global incidence of hyperuricemia (HUA) is gradually increasing, and HUA poses a severe threat to human health. Between 25% and 50% of HUA patients are not effectively treated with current clinical medications due to drug contraindications or severe adverse reactions. Therefore, novel safe and effective uric acid-lowering products are needed. Fucoidan is a naturally derived polysaccharide containing sulfate groups exclusively found in brown algae. Although there are reports on the anti-HUA effects of fucoidan, the simultaneous regulation of gut microbiota by anti-HUA still needs to be fully understood. In this study, potassium oxonate (PO) and hypoxanthine-induced HUA model mice were treated with 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg fucoidan (from Laminaria japonica) for 14 days. The levels associated with HUA were quantified using assay kits to assess fucoidan intervention. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to analyze the effects of fucoidan in mice with HUA. The results showed that fucoidan reduced serum uric acid and urea nitrogen levels in a dose-dependent manner, and serum creatinine levels in the 200 and 400 mg/kg fucoidan groups were similar to those in the control group. It decreased the expression of uric acid metabolic protein levels of xanthine oxidase (XOD), adenosine deaminase (ADA), and glucose transporter (GLUT9) and increased ATP binding cassette subfamily G member 2 (ABCG2) protein expression. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that the richness (Chao and Ace indices) and diversity (Shannon and Simpson indices) of the gut microbiota in model mice decreased, whereas supplementation with fucoidan alleviated gut microbiota dysbiosis in HUA model mice, leading to a gradual approach of α-diversity and β-diversity towards the control mice. Additionally, fucoidan supplementation significantly increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria, which are negatively correlated with the HUA-associated phenotypes, reassuring the positive effects of fucoidan on gut health. This study proposed that fucoidan can be considered a potential candidate for preventing and treating HUA.

In recent years, the research of marine drugs has become a global hot spot, and marine traditional Chinese medicine (MTCM) is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine. To promote the development and application of MTCM, this review collected 10 kinds of MTCM from the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, analyzed and expounded their pharmacological effects. The pharmacological effects of MTCM are mainly anti-inflammation, antioxidation and anticancer, and could be used for the treatment of diabetes, atherosclerosis and other diseases. Modern pharmacological studies have confirmed that the pharmacological effects of MTCM are consistent with those recorded in ancient books, Ostreae Concha and Laminaria Thallus, as MTCM, have been listed as medicinal and edible substances in China. However, MTCM is facing problems such as lack of quality standards and resource destruction. Therefore, it is necessary to summarize the pharmacological effects and use methods of MTCM, to provide reference for the application and resource development of MTCM.

Hyperuricemia, a metabolic disorder related to uric acid metabolism dysregulation, has become a common metabolic disease worldwide, due to changes in lifestyle and dietary structure. In recent years, owing to their high activity and few adverse effects, food-derived active peptides used as functional foods against hyperuricemia have attracted increasing attention. This article aims to focus on the challenge associated with peptide-specific preparation methods development, functional components identification, action mechanism(s) clarification, and bioavailability improvement. The current review proposed recent advances in producing the food-derived peptides with high anti-hyperuricemia activity by protein source screening and matched enzymatic hydrolysis condition adjusting, increased the knowledge about strategies to search antihyperuricemia peptides with definite structure, and emphasized the necessity of combining computer-aided approaches and activity evaluations. In addition, novel action mechanism mediated by gut microbiota was discussed, providing different insights from classical mechanism. Moreover, considering that little attention was paid previously on the structure-activity relationships of anti-hyperuricemia peptides, we collected the sequences from published studies and make a preliminary summary about the structure-activity relationships, which in turn provided guides for enzymatic hydrolysis optimization and bioavailability improvement. Hopefully, this article could promote the development, application and commercialization of food-derived anti-hyperuricemia peptides in the future.