Abstract
Purpose
Laminaria japonica is a representative marine brown alga used as a culinary item in East Asia. L. japonica extract was shown to exert various biological activities; however, its anti-inflammatory activity has not been reported. The aim of this study is to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying its anti-inflammatory action.
Methods
Anti-inflammatory mechanisms of L. japonica n-hexane fraction (LHF) were assessed using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. An anti-inflammatory compound isolated from LHF by reverse-phase chromatography was identified using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
Results
Our results indicate that LHF significantly inhibited LPS-stimulated nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) secretion in a dose-dependent manner and suppressed the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) with no cytotoxicity. As results, levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were significantly reduced by pretreatment of LHF in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Treatment of LHF strongly suppressed nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) promoter-driven expression and nuclear translocation of NF-κB by preventing proteolytic degradation of inhibitor of κB (IκB)-α in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Moreover, LHF inhibited the phosphorylation of Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. One of the anti-inflammatory compounds was isolated from LHF and identified as fucoxanthin.
Conclusions
These results indicate that the LHF-mediated inhibition of NO and PGE2 secretion in LPS-stimulated macrophages is regulated by NF-κB inactivation through inhibition of IκB-α, MAPKs, and Akt phosphorylation. LHF may be considered as a functional food candidate for the prevention or treatment of inflammatory diseases.
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Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic of Korea and the program of the Brain Busan 21.
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The authors declare that we have no conflict of interest.
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Lee, JY., Lee, MS., Choi, HJ. et al. Hexane fraction from Laminaria japonica exerts anti-inflammatory effects on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages via inhibiting NF-kappaB pathway. Eur J Nutr 52, 409–421 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-012-0345-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-012-0345-1