Table 4.

Selected studies on the neuroprotective effect of pigments from macroalgae.

Compound	Concentration Tested	Macroalgae	Bioactivity	Type of Model	Experimental Model	Reference
Fucoxanthin	50–200 mg/kg	S. horneri	Inhibition of AChE and animal behaviour	In vitro and in vivo	In vitro AChE inhibition and scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment in ICR mice (parameters assessed: locomotor activity, recognition impairment, spatial learning and memory impairments, expression of neurotropic factors, and ChAT and AChE activity)	[205]
Fucoxanthin	2–100 µM	U. pinnatifida	Inhibition of BACE1	In vitro	In vitro assay	[208]
Fucoxanthin	2–100 µM	E. stolonifera	Inhibition of BACE1	In vitro	In vitro assay	[208]
Fucoxanthin	100–400 µM	E. bicyclis	Inhibition of hMAOs	In vitro	In vitro assay	[211]
Fucoxanthin	100–400 µM	U. pinnatifida	Inhibition of hMAOs	In vitro	In vitro assay	[211]
Extract and fractions containing phycobiliproteins and chlorophyll a	100–500 µg/mL	P. palmata	Anti-inflammatory	In vitro	LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells (parameters assessed: Levels of •NO, TNF-α, and IL-6)	[310]
Ethanol extract, fucoxanthin, and fucoxanthinol	Extract (5–30 µg/mL) Fucoxanthin (25–250 ng/mL) Fucoxanthinol (50–100 ng/mL)	U. pinnatifida	Antioxidant	In vitro	Primary cultures of rat hippocampal neurons (parameters assessed: cell viability, apoptosis, mitochondrial integrity, intracellular ROS, and total length of primary neurites)	[312]
Fucoxanthin	0.1–30 µM (in vitro) 50–200 mg/kg (in vivo)	S. horneri	Inhibition of Aβ assembly	In vitro and in vivo	In vitro inhibition of Aβ1–42 oligomers formation; SH-SY5Y cells treated with Aβ1–42 oligomers (parameters assessed: cell survival); Aβ1–42 oligomer-treated mice (parameters assessed: locomotor activity, and recognition performance)	[313]
Ethyl acetate fraction containing fucoxanthin, canthaxanthin, and violaxanthin, among other compounds	10–100 µg/mL	E. prolifera	Antioxidant and anti-apoptotic	In vitro	HT-22 cells treated with glutamate (parameters assessed: cell viability, intracellular ROS, apoptosis, expression of antioxidant activities, and neurotropic factors)	[314]
Fucoxanthin	0.3–3 µM	S. horneri	Antioxidant and Inhibition of Aβ assembly	In vitro	SH-SY5Y cells treated with Aβ oligomers (parameters assessed: cell viability, apoptosis, intracellular ROS, and activation of signalling pathways)	[343]
Fucoxanthin	0.3–3 µM	S. horneri	Antioxidant	In vitro	H2O2-induced toxicity in SH-SY5Y cells and in primary cerebellar granule neurons (parameters assessed: cell viability, apoptosis, intracellular ROS, and signalling pathways activation)	[344]