• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.198-204
• /
• 2011

The brown seaweed Ecklonia cava is known to be a rich source of phlorotannins that have diverse biological activities. Among the phlorotannins in E. cava, concentrations of dieckol and phlorofucofuroeckol-A, which were identified as major active components, were determined in different parts of the tissue. We compared the efficacy of different pretreatments for their extraction. A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method to determine phlorotannin concentrations showed good accuracy (92.64 and 94.02%, respectively), precision (3.92 and 3.94%, respectively), and linearity (r>0.996). Mature thalli contained 1.5-fold more dieckol (1.82 mg/g-dry tissue) than young thalli. In the tissues of E. cava, blade tissue contained more phlorotannins than the stipe or holdfast. Among differently dried thalli, approximately 90% or more dieckol and phlorofucofuroeckol-A were extracted from shadow-dried tissue as compared with lyophilized tissue. In sun-dried and oven-dried thalli, approximately 60% of the phlorotannins were extracted. Thalli washed with fresh water, boiled thalli, and steamed thalli showed reduced extraction of the compounds.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.93-100
• /
• 2011

Inhibition of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) activity is the most common mechanism underlying the lowering of blood pressure. In the present study, five organic extracts of a marine brown seaweed Ecklonia cava were prepared by using ethanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform, hexane, and diethyl ether as solvents, which were then tested for their potential ACE inhibitory activities. Ethanol extract showed the strongest ACE inhibitory activity with an $IC_{50}$ value of 0.96 mg/ml. Five kinds of phlorotannins, phloroglucinol, triphlorethol-A, eckol, dieckol, and eckstolonol, were isolated from ethanol extract of E. cava, which exhibited potential ACE inhibition. Dieckol was the most potent ACE inhibitor and was found to be a non-competitive inhibitor against ACE according to Lineweaver-Burk plots. Dieckol had an inducible effect on the production of NO in EAhy926 cells without having cytotoxic effect. The results of this study indicate that E. cava could be a potential source of phlorotalnnins with ACE inhibitory activity for utilization in production of functional foods.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.3.1-3.6
• /
• 2016

Phlorotannins are reported to have diverse biological properties. However, no analytical methods for the standardization of phlorotannin preparations have been reported. Herein, we developed and validated an analytical method for the determination of dieckol in phlorotannin extracts (PRT) using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The optimum HPLC conditions consisted of a Supelco Discovery C18 column stationary phase, a mobile phase (A: 15 % HPLC grade methanol in deionized water, B: methanol), UV detection at 230 nm, and a flow rate of 0.7 mL/min. The optimized chromatographic conditions were validated and exhibited good specificity and linearity ($R^2$ > 0.9994-1.0000). The recoveries were in the range of 100.9-102.3 %. The method had good intermediate (%RSD 1.2) and intra-day (%RSD 0.4-1.7) assay precisions. This HPLC method had good accuracy and quality in the determination of dieckol in PRT.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.112-118
• /
• 2013

This study was performed to investigate the possible use of Eisenia bicyclis (EB) ethanol extract to inhibit activity against lipase. In tests, the lipase inhibitory activity of EB ethanol extract was noted as being 43, 27, and 24% at concentrations of 5, 2.5, and 1 mg/ml, respectively. Isolation was carried out by liquid and liquid extraction, silica-gel column chromatography, and HPLC. The results showed that the lipase inhibitory activity of the ethyl acetate (EA) fraction from EB ethanol extract exhibited the strongest lipase inhibitory activity with an $IC_{50}$ value of 1.31 mg/ml. The EA fraction was separated using silica-gel column chromatography and we obtained 22 sub-fractions. Amongst them, the EA1 fraction showed the highest lipase inhibitory activity with an $IC_{50}$ value of 0.54 mg/ml. Eight peaks were obtained from the EA1 fraction by HPLC. Fraction 5 also showed a strong lipase inhibitory activity with an $IC_{50}$ value of 0.37 mg/ml. The fraction 5 was identified as dieckol and the inhibition pattern analyzed from Lineweaver-Burk plots revealed a non-competitive inhibitor. These results suggest that EB has potential as a natural anti-obesity agent.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.359-367
• /
• 2020

Neurodegenerative disorders in the elderly are characterized by gradual loss of memory and cognitive function. Oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species is associated with progressive neuronal cell damage and death in Alzheimer's disease, one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders. An edible brown seaweed, Ecklonia cava, contains a variety of biologically active compounds such as phlorotannins. In this study, we comparatively evaluated the total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, and neuroprotective effects of the phlorotannin-rich extract from E. cava (PEEC). The total phenolic content of PEEC and dieckol was 810.8 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g and 996.6 mg GAE/g, respectively. Antioxidant capacity of PEEC was 1,233.8 mg vitamin C equivalents (VCE)/g and 392.1 mg VCE/g determined using ABTS and DPPH assays, respectively, while those of dieckol were 2,238.4 mg VCE/g and 817.7 mg VCE/g. High-performance liquid chromatography results revealed 48.08 ± 0.67 mg dieckol/g of PEEC. PEEC had neuroprotective effects in pheochromocytoma (PC-12) and human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cells against H₂O₂- and AAPH-induced oxidative damage, partly due to reduced intracellular oxidative stress. PEEC treatment inhibited acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, these findings suggest that PEEC is a good source of antioxidants and neuroprotective materials.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.584-591
• /
• 2021

Marine algae (seaweed) encompass numerous groups of multicellular organisms with various shapes, sizes, and colors, and serve as important sources of natural bioactive substances. The brown alga Ecklonia cava Kjellman, an edible seaweed, contains many bioactives such as phlorotannins and fucoidans. Here, we evaluated the antioxidative, neuroprotective, and anti-apoptotic effects of E. cava extract (ECE), E. cava phlorotannin-rich extract (ECPE), and the phlorotannin dieckol on neuronal PC-12 cells. The antioxidant capacities of ECPE and ECE were 1,711.5 and 1,050.4 mg vitamin C equivalents/g in the ABTS assay and 704.0 and 474.6 mg vitamin C equivalents/g in the DPPH assay, respectively. The dieckol content of ECPE (58.99 mg/g) was approximately 60% higher than that of ECE (36.97 mg/g). Treatment of PC-12 cells with ECPE and ECE increased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. Intracellular oxidative stress in PC-12 cells due to ECPE and ECE decreased dose-independently by up to 63% and 47%, respectively, compared with the stress control (323%). ECPE reduced the production of the pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and caspase-3 more effectively than ECE. Early and late apoptosis in PC-12 cells were more effectively decreased by ECPE than ECE treatments. From the results obtained in this study, we concluded that ECPE, which is rich in phlorotannins, including the marker compound dieckol, may be applied to the development of functional materials for improving cognition and memory.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.353-362
• /
• 2021

Ecklonia stolonifera, which belongs to the family Laminariaceae, is an edible perennial brown marine alga that is widely distributed, and is rich in polyphenols, including dieckol. Here, we investigated the radical scavenging activities of E. stolonifera extract (ESE) using various in vitro models. We further evaluated the effect of ESE on the cholesterol secretion inhibition activity in HepG2 cells, as well as the hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase activity. Our results showed that the total phenol, total flavonoid, and dieckol contents of ESE were 9.64±0.04 mg GAE/g, 2.72±0.08 mg RE/g and 27.42±0.66 mg/g, respectively. The antioxidant activity of ESE increased in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the ESE inhibited cholesterol secretion from HepG2 cells with anti-HMG-CoA reductase activity. These results suggested that ESE possesses antioxidant and anti-cholesterol activities, and can therefore be used as a preclinical bioresource for development of health functional foods.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.380-385
• /
• 2016

The object of this study was to evaluate antibacterial activity of edible seaweed extracts against marine bacterial pathogens including Edwardsiella tarda, Streptococcus iniae, Streptococcus parauberis, Vibrio anguillarum, Vibiro harveyi and Vibrio scophthalm, which are associated with human or fish infectious disease. Ecklonia cava methanolic extract showed a strong and broad spectrum antibacterial activity against marine bacterial pathogens used in this study. Among solvent-soluble fractions of the E. cava extract, the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) soluble fraction showed the strongest antibacterial activity against marine bacterial pathogens tested in this study with MIC in the range of $128-256{\mu}g/mL$. Furthermore, HPLC analysis revealed that the soluble fraction contains abundant dieckol, a phlorotannin compound, compared to other solvent soluble fractions, suggesting that phlorotannins including dieckol would be a key antibacterial agent against marine bacterial pathogens.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.121-130
• /
• 2019

Glutamate toxicity-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction and neuronal cell death are involved in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases as well as acute brain ischemia/stroke. In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective mechanism of dieckol (DEK), one of the phlorotannins isolated from the marine brown alga Ecklonia cava, against glutamate toxicity. Primary cortical neurons ($100{\mu}M$, 24 h) and HT22 neurons (5 mM, 12 h) were stimulated with glutamate to induce glutamate toxic condition. The results demonstrated that DEK treatment significantly increased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner ($1-50{\mu}M$) and recovered morphological deterioration in glutamate-stimulated neurons. In addition, DEK strongly attenuated intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, mitochondrial overload of $Ca^{2+}$ and ROS, mitochondrial membrane potential (${\Delta}{\Psi}_m$) disruption, adenine triphosphate depletion. DEK showed free radical scavenging activity in the cell-free system. Furthermore, DEK enhanced protein expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an important anti-oxidant enzyme, via the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-like 2 (Nrf2). Taken together, we conclude that DEK exerts neuroprotective activities against glutamate toxicity through its direct free radical scavenging property and the Nrf-2/HO-1 pathway activation.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.251-256
• /
• 2011

We screened for antibacterial substances against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Methanolic extract of Eisenia bicyclis exhibited anti-MRSA activity according to a disk diffusion assay. To identify the active compound(s), the methanolic extract was further fractionated using hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. The ethyl acetate-soluble fraction showed both the greatest anti-MRSA activity and the highest polyphenol content. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of the ethyl acetate fraction ranged from 32 to 64 ${\mu}g$ per mL against methicillin-susceptible S. aureus and MRSA strains. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed that both the methanolic extract and the ethyl acetate soluble fraction contained sizeable quantities of dieckol, which is a known anti-MRSA compound. Thus, these data strongly suggest that the anti-MRSA activity of E. bicyclis may be mediated by phlorotannins such as dieckol.