The Edible Red Alga Porphyra yezoensis Promotes Neuronal Survival and Cytoarchitecture in Primary Hippocampal Neurons

Abstract

The edible red alga Porphyra yezoensis is among the most popular marine algae and is of economic and medicinal importance. In the present study, the neurotrophic and neuroprotective activities of the ethanol extract of P. yezoensis (PYE) were investigated in primary cultures of hippocampal neurons. Results revealed that PYE significantly increased neurite outgrowth at an optimal concentration of 15 µg/mL. PYE dose-dependently increased viable cells, significantly accelerated the rate of neuronal differentiation in cultures, promoted axodendritic arborization, and eventually induced synaptogenesis. In addition to morphological development, PYE also promoted functional maturation as indicated by the staining of live cultures with FM 1-43. Moreover, PYE increased neuronal survivability, which was attributed to reduced apoptosis and its ROS scavenging activity. Taurine, a major organic acid in PYE (2.584/100 mg of dry PYE) promoted neurite outgrowth in a dose-dependent manner, and this promotion was suppressed by the taurine antagonist isethionic acid. The study indicates that PYE and its active component, taurine, facilitate neuronal development and maturation and have a neuroprotective effect.

Protective effects of enzyme degradation extract from Porphyra yezoensis against oxidative stress and brain injury in d-galactose-induced ageing mice

“…PYEDE treatment can effectively inhibit the activity of iNOS, reduce the content of NO and alleviate damage to the hippocampus and brain atrophy, possibly by renewing the ability of the brain to scavenge ROS (in vitro) and reducing lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation. Previous studies have shown that inhibition of iNOS and NO generation can attenuate hippocampal neuronal apoptosis, and an ethanol extract of P. yezoensis promoted the development of hippocampal neurons by enhancing the rates of early neuronal differentiation and axodendritic arborisation (46,47) . Another study demonstrated that D-gal affected inflammatory markers, such as iNOS, causing them to activate the NF-κB pathway (3) .…”

Health Functionality and Quality Control of Laver (Porphyra, Pyropia): Current Issues and Future Perspectives as an Edible Seaweed

“…Decreased plasma cholesterol levels in rats after the consumption of taurine were reported [56,61]. Promotion of neuronal development by taurine in laver extracts was also experimentally demonstrated by the primary culture of hippocampal neurons [76].…”

“…Anti-cancer polysaccharides (dietary fiber, porphyran), phospholipids, sterol, peptide [17,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] Prevention of cardiovascular disease (e.g., hypertension, atherosclerosis, ischemia) betaine, dietary fiber, taurine, porphyran [17,[55][56][57][58][59][60][61] Antioxidant effect (e.g., Anti-ageing) porphyran, glycoprotein, polyphenols, tocopherols, peptide [62][63][64][65][66][67] Anti-inflammatory effect and immunomodulation glycoprotein, porphyran [64,[68][69][70][71][72][73] Alcohol metabolism glycoprotein [74,75] Prevention of nervous diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's diseases, methylmalonic acidemias) taurine, porphyran [38,76,77] Prevention of bone disease (e.g., osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis) porphyran, glycoprotein [64,78] Anti-diabetes mellitus phenolic compounds (carotenoids, anthocyanins), polysaccharides (porphyran), peptide [79][80][81][82] Porphyran is the distinctive dietary fiber found in laver, and its health effects were intensively studied to determine the nutritional/functional quality of ...…”

Low-Molecular-Weightt Polysaccharides From Pyropia yezoensis Enhance Tolerance of Wheat Seedlings (Triticum aestivum L.) to Salt Stress

“…It has a backbone of alternating (1 → 4) -3,6-anhydro-α- L -galactopyranose units and (1 → 3) - linked β- D -galactose or (1 → 4)-linked α- L -galactose 6-sulfate units. In recent years, P. yezoensis polysaccharides have attracted attention as biomedical material because of their and antioxidants ( Zhao et al, 2006 ; Zhou et al, 2012 ), anticancer ( Yu et al, 2015 ), hypolipidemic ( Qian et al, 2014 ), immunoregulatory ( Zhang et al, 2003 ), the neurotrophic and neuroprotective activities ( Mohibbullah et al, 2015 ). Moreover, it has been demonstrated that polysaccharides carrageenans and their oligosaccharides can trigger defense systems against plant pathogens including bacteria, virus and fungi ( Stadnik and de Freitas, 2014 ).…”