This technology utilizes an extract of Ishige okamurae, an edible brown alga found along the coasts of East Asia, obtained via 70% ethanol extraction. It serves as an active ingredient in pharmaceutical compositions, health functional food compositions, and methods for protecting brain cells to prevent, improve, and treat neurodegeneration induced by the organotin toxin trimethyltin. Target conditions include hyperactivity, aggression, cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.
Neurodegeneration causes various incurable degenerative brain diseases for which there are few fundamental treatments. Trimethyltin, widely used in agriculture and industry, is known to induce hyperactivity and cognitive impairment in the central nervous system through calcium overload, glutamate excitotoxicity, and oxidative stress. While brown algae, including Ishige okamurae, have been reported to possess physiological activities such as anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties, their protective effects against neurodegeneration beyond Alzheimer's disease had not been confirmed.
This technology is based on the finding that treating HT22 hippocampal neuronal cells exposed to trimethyltin with Ishige okamurae extract inhibits apoptosis by reducing cleaved caspase-3 and PARP, lowering ERK, p38, and JNK phosphorylation, and increasing the expression of BDNF as well as the antioxidant defense factors HO-1 and Nrf2. Applicable to health functional foods for preventing degenerative brain diseases, brain health management materials for workers exposed to neurotoxic substances, and functional seaweed ingredients for cognitive improvement, this extract from common seaweed can block neuronal death signals and boost neurotrophic factors to protect brain cells.
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