A brown alga Sargassum fulvellum facilitates neuronal maturation and synaptogenesis

Sargassum fulvellum (Turner) C. Agardh is an edible brown macroalgae having pharmacological importance. In previous reports, we described the screening of marine algae for their neuritogenic activity in developing hippocampal neurons and found that ethanol extract of S. fulvellum (SFE) possesses promising neurite-outgrowth-promoting activity. In this study, we evaluated whether the initial neurite promoting effect of SFE was followed on the further neuronal maturation and synapse formation. SFE exhibited dose-dependent effect on neurite maturation with an optimum concentration of 5 μg/mL. The initial neuronal differentiation is significantly promoted by SFE. Subsequently, compared with control culture, SFE increased the indices of axonal and dendritic developments such as the number and the length of primary processes, and branching frequencies. In addition to its effect on neurite development, SFE significantly increased the number of puncta for postsynaptic density-95, synaptic vesicle 2, and synapse (about 35%, 67%, and 125%, respectively, of control). Moreover, SFE dose-dependently protects neurons from naturally occurring death in normal culture condition. Taken together, our data demonstrate that SFE can promote neuronal maturation and synaptogenesis and support neuronal survival, suggesting the beneficial effect of this alga in nervous system.