• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.265-271
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• 2016

Recently, liver damage contributes to big percentage of the morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Excessive intake of alcohol is one of the major causes of liver injury. When liver injury is repeated and becomes chronic, it leads to development of fibrosis and cirrhosis. In the liver, TGF-${\beta}$ is a profibrogenic cytokine, which participates in various critical events cause liver fibrosis. Seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) is a common traditional Chinese medicine and has been widely used for centuries. Seahorse has been known to have a variety of bioactivities, such as anti-oxidant, anti-fatigue, and anti-tumor. Peptide is one of the main compounds of seahorse. In this study, we isolated enzymatic hydrolysate from seahorse H. abdominalis by alcalase hydrolysis and investigated the effect of the hydrolysate on liver injury. In the present in vitro studies, the hydrolysate increases cell viability of Chang cells and protects Huh7 cells from ethanol toxicity. In addition, the hydrolysate inhibits TGF-${\beta}$-induced responses. In vivo studies show that the pretreatment of hydrolysate reduces alcohol-induced increases of serum Glutamic oxaloacetic acid transaminase and Glutamic pyruvate transaminase activities and increases liver weight and body weight. These results suggest that seahorse may have a hepatoprotective effect.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.354-361
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• 2015

Mitochondrial heat shock protein 75 (mtHSP75) is a member of the HSP90 family and plays essential roles in refolding proteins of the mitochondrial matrix. Mitochondria provide energy in the form of ATP and generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are activated in response to stress, and protect cells. In this study, we characterized the mtHSP75 of the big-belly seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis. The protein (BsmtHSP75) is encoded by an open reading frame (ORF) of 2,157 nucleotides, has 719 amino acids (aa), and is of molecular mass 82 kDa. BsmtHSP75 has two functional domains, a histidine kinase-like ATPase (HATPase_c) domain (123-276 aa) and an HSP90 family domain (302-718 aa). BsmtHSP75 was expressed in all tested tissues of healthy seahorses. The ovary contained the highest transcription level, followed (in order) by the blood, brain, and muscle. Pouch tissue showed the lowest expression level. The expression of BsmtHSP75 was significantly (P<0.05) up-regulated on viral or bacterial challenge, suggesting that BsmtHSP75 plays a role in the immune defense against bacterial and viral pathogens.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.346-353
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• 2015

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are steroid hormones regulated through responses to stress to maintain diverse metabolic and homeostatic functions. GCs act on the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), a member of the nuclear receptor family. This study identified and characterized the GR gene from the big-belly seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis designating it HaGR. The open reading frame of the HaGR cDNA was 2,346 bp in length, encoding a 782-amino-acid polypeptide with a theoretical isoelectric point of 6.26 and predicted molecular mass of 86.8 kDa. Nuclear receptors share a common structural organization, comprising an N-terminal transactivation domain, DNA-binding domain, and C-terminal ligand-binding domain. The tissue-specific mRNA expression profile of HaGR was analyzed in healthy seahorses using a qPCR technique. HaGR mRNA was expressed ubiquitously in all of the tissues examined, with the highest expression levels in kidney, intestine, stomach, and gill tissues. The mRNA expression in response to immune challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly I:C), Edwardsiella tarda, and Streptococcus iniae revealed that it is inducible in response to pathogen infection. These results suggest that HaGR is involved in the immune response of the big-belly seahorse.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.127-133
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• 2019

Seahorses have long been used as ornamental and medicinal products. The sea horse Hippocampus abdominalis has a beautiful color and unique shape and is also used for ornamental purposes and as a traditional medicine in China. This study examined the value of H. abdominalis as a health functional food or food additive. H. abdominalis was hydrolyzed using seven proteases: flavourzyme, neutrase, alcalase, trypsin, kojizyme, pepsin and protamex. The yields of all of the enzyme hydrolysates were higher than that of the aqueous extract. Of the enzymatic hydrolysates, seahorse Protamex hydrolysate (SHP) gave the highest yield and had excellent antioxidant and angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibitory activities. It protected Vero cells against oxidative by 2,2-azobis-(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH) and antihypertension in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats. This study attempted to demonstrate H. abdominalis as a health functional food or food additive in the future.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.445-453
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• 2016

Seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis a marine teleost fish, has long been used as one of the essential materials in traditional Chinese medicine. However, the uses of seahorse have been limited due to its high cost, despite its beneficial biological activities. Seahorse has not been widely explored for its biofunctional properties and active components. In the present study, the enzymatic hydrolysates of seahorse were prepared by using two digestive enzymes (trypsin and pepsin) and five food grade enzymes (neutrase, protamex, alcalase, kojizyme, and flavourzyme). The enzymatic hydrolysates indicated higher hydrolysis yields than its water extract. Among them, the distilled water-pepsin hydrolysate (DP) which was obtained by distilled water extraction followed by pepsin hydrolysis, showed the highest yield and protein content as well as the highest alkyl radical scavenging activity. Also, it provided protective effects against oxidative stress induced by AAPH in vero cell and zebrafish. Further fractionation based on the molecular weight was carried out to identify it’s active components, and < 5 kDa (less than 5 kDa) molecular weight fraction was confirmed to have the highest antioxidant activity. In conclusion, this study suggests that DP of seahorse has antioxidant properties, and might be a novel and useful material from the marine origin for healthy functional foods and cosmetics.