Edible seaweed extract eases pollution-worsened asthma in mice
Kim HJ, Thilakarathna MKS, Yang J, Dayaddra GP, Ko MO
Medicinal Plants
The brown seaweed used here, Ecklonia cava, is the same edible kelp relative you'll find dried in Asian grocery aisles or growing on rocky coastlines, and this study adds to evidence that everyday marine plants carry real anti-inflammatory compounds worth knowing about.
Scientists tested an extract from a brown seaweed called Ecklonia cava on mice with asthma made worse by air pollution particles. The seaweed extract calmed down overactive immune cells in the lungs, reduced swelling and mucus, and stopped a harmful process where immune cells release sticky traps that damage tissue. It's an early sign that compounds from edible seaweed could help protect lungs from pollution-driven inflammation.
Key Findings
ECE reduced oxidative stress markers (ROS, MDA) and NF-κB activation in lung epithelial cells exposed to particulate matter
In mice, ECE lowered airway hyperresponsiveness, inflammatory cell counts, mast cell degranulation, and Th2/Th17 cytokines
ECE suppressed both M1 (CD80, Nos2, iNOS) and M2 (CD206, Arg1, p-STAT6) macrophage polarization markers and reduced macrophage extracellular trap formation (MPO, CitH3)
chevron_right Technical Summary
A seaweed extract from Ecklonia cava, a brown alga, reduced asthma symptoms in mice exposed to air pollution by calming inflammatory immune cells in the lungs and blocking a harmful trap-like response from lung macrophages.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Ecklonia cava extract attenuates PM-exacerbated allergic asthma by modulating pulmonary macrophage polarization to suppress macrophage extracellular trap (MET) formation.
Environmental particulate matter (PM) exacerbates allergic airway inflammation and promotes oxidative stress-driven immune dysregulation. Pulmonary macrophages are key mediators of these responses,...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Ancient Amazonian forests were planted and tended by Indigenous farmers
Forests and fruits we romanticize as wild — including many plants now in our kitchens and gardens — may exist in their current abundance precisely because an...
Ecklonia cava, also called paddle weed, kajime , noro-kajime, or gamtae (Korean: 감태), is an edible marine brown alga species found in the ocean off Japan and Korea.