Anti-inflammatory potential of monogalactosyl diacylglycerols and a monoacylglycerol from the edible brown seaweed Fucus spiralis linnaeus

Abstract

A monoacylglycerol (1) and a 1:1 mixture of two monogalactosyl diacylglycerols (MGDGs) ( 2 and 3) were isolated from the brown seaweed Fucus spiralis Linnaeus. The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic means (NMR and MS) and by comparison with the literature. Compound 1 was composed of a glycerol moiety linked to oleic acid (C18:1 Ù9). Compounds 2 and 3 contained a glycerol moiety linked to a galactose unit and eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5 UΩ3) combined with octadecatetraenoic acid (C18:4 UΩ3) or linolenic acid (C18:3 UΩ3), respectively. The isolated compounds were tested for their cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activity in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. All of them inhibited NO production at non-cytotoxic concentrations. The fraction consisting of compounds 2 and 3, in a ratio of 1:1, was slightly more effective than compound 1 (IC50 of 60.06 and 65.70 μg/mL, respectively). To our knowledge, this is the first report of these compounds from F. spiralis and on their anti-inflammatory capacity. © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI.