Toward the Identification of Anticoagulant Compounds in Three Species of Seagrass; A Potential Explanation for Hypercoagulation Activity in the Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris)
Abstract
The Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), a subspecies of the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), has been shown to be hypercoagulable compared to other mammals by clotting factor activity and thromboelasticity (TEG).1,2 This hypercoagulation has been responsible for thromboembolic disease related to cold stress syndrome and other health challenges of manatees.3 It has been proposed that manatees may have evolved this hypercoagulation in response to some environmental challenge that would promote bleeding, and foraging is highly suspected. Mammals such as the koala have evolved physiological responses that allow them to feed on plants that are generally known to have toxic or noxious properties.4 The West Indian manatee is known to consume a wide variety of plants, but three species of seagrasses are preferred: Thalassia testudinum (turtle grass), Syringodium filiforme (manatee grass), and Halodule wrightii (shoal grass).5 It is suspected that these plants singly, or perhaps in some combination, have anticoagulant properties to which manatees have evolved a hypercoagulation response. Samples of each of these sea grasses were harvested from Boca Ciega Bay, dried, and powdered.6 Sequential extraction was performed on each species with hexanes, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and methanol, and each extract was analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to attempt to identify soluble, relatively small molecular-weight organic compounds with likely biological activity.6,7 Identifying potential anticoagulation compounds in these plants will reinforce their importance to manatees range conservation and also open the possibility of discovering novel oral anticoagulants (NOAs).
Acknowledgements
Seagrass collection was conducted under FWC Special Activity License number SAL-19-2089-E.
*Presenting author
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