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Eisenia arborea, an edible brown alga, is occasionally used as a folk medicine due to its anti-allergic e#ect. In the present study to identify the anti-allergic constituents in the alga, the extract of the alga was purified by partition between solvents and by reversed phase chromatography. Separation of the extract was guided by the inhibitory activity upon b-hexosaminidase release from the rat basophilic leukemia-,Hcells. HPLC purification a#orded six active compounds. Spectral analyses clarified their structures as eckol, 0,0῎-bieckol, 0,2῎-bieckol, 2,2῎-bieckol, phlorofucofuroeckol-A, and phlorofucofuroeckol-B. Most of the phlorotannins exhibited activities similar to or greater than the typical inhibitor, epigallocatechin gallate. Phlorofucofuroeckol-B showed the greatest activity among the tested phlorotannins at ,.2 times greater than epigallocatechin gallate.

A total of 26 species of seaweeds (1 green, 21 brown, and 4 red algae) and 6 polysaccharides were screened for their antihypertensive and antihyperlipidemic activities using rats in order to evaluate their potential application for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Although diets containing some pulverized seaweeds moderately elevated total cholesterol (TC), free cholesterol (FC), and low density lipoprotein (LDL), marked antihypertensive and antihypercholesterolemic activities were found in almost all seaweeds, some of which are commonly used as food. In addition, serum levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) were enhanced 46.0% by seaweed powder diets. Six polysaccharides derived from active 'seaweed species were investigated, and appreciable suppression of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia was observed for all samples. They also markedly enhanced the serum level of HDL.

In the group receiving FIII-2-b, the percentages of splenic Thyl.2-, L3T4 and asialo GM1-positive cells were significantly increased as compared with the tumor-bearing mice treated with saline. Furthermore, the L3T4+/Lyt2+ ratio showed a tendency to increase, and the Lyt2+/Thy1.2+ ratio was markedly decreased. These results suggest that the antitumor effect of F III -2-b may be correlated with the changing pattern of the Thyl.2-, L3T4 and asialo GM1-positive cells.

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