One-Step Preparative Separation of Phytosterols from Edible Brown Seaweed Sargassum horneri by High-Speed Countercurrent Chromatography

Abstract

Sargassum horneri, a sargassaceae brown alga, is one of the main species in the subtidal seaweeds flora extensively distributed in the Yellow and East China Sea. It has been proven that the phytosterols are an important class of bioactive substances in S. horneri. In this work, a counter-current chromatography approach is proposed for preparative separation of phytol and two analogue sterols from a crude extract of S. horneri. A two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-acetonitrile-methanol (5:5:6, v/v) was selected and optimized. The effects of rotary speed and flow rate on the retention of the stationary phase were carefully studied. Under the optimum conditions, phytol and two analogue sterols, fucosterol and saringosterol, were baseline separated, producing 19.8 mg phytol, 23.7 mg fucosterol, and 3.1 mg saringosterol from 300 mg of crude S. horneri extract in one-step separation. The purities of three target compounds were all above 85%. The structures of phytol and two sterols were identified by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Fucosterol Isolated from Dietary Brown Alga Sargassum horneri Protects TNF-α/IFN-γ-Stimulated Human Dermal Fibroblasts Via Regulating Nrf2/HO-1 and NF-κB/MAPK Pathways

“…Brown seaweeds, such as S. horneri , are well-known sources of sterols, and many studies highlighted that investigating the isolation of bioactive compounds and their therapeutic potential is crucial [ 30 , 31 ]. Previous studies have revealed that FST isolated from edible brown alga, such as Eisenia bicyclia and Undaria pinnatifida , have potent anti-inflammatory effects on RAW 264.7 macrophages, which stimulate to produce nitric oxide inside cells by lipopolysaccharide [ 16 , 32 ].…”

Screening of Marine Bioactive Antimicrobial Compounds for Plant Pathogens

“…The anti-microbial polyketide JBIR-99 ( 3 ) was successfully purified by HSCCC, from a marine fungus Meyerozyma guilliermondii [ 74 ]. Another compound phytosterols was also isolated by HSCCC from Sargassum horneri, a brown seaweed [ 75 ].…”

The Anti-Oxidative and Anti-Neuroinflammatory Effects of Sargassum horneri by Heme Oxygenase-1 Induction in BV2 and HT22 Cells

“…It is well-known that brown algae including S. horneri contain abundant sterol type compounds such as fucosterol [31]. Fucosterol was detected in the HPLC chromatogram (UV wavelength: 210 nm) at around 20.6 min of retention time (Figure 2A), and concentration ranges of 10-500 µg/mL were prepared with the calibration curve.…”