Hijikia fusiformis seaweed
February 1 2017

Hijikia fusiformis is a Japanese edible seaweed that contains fucoxanthin.

Fucoxanthin and its metabolite, fucoxanthinol, suppress adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells.
Int J Mol Med. 2006; Maeda H, Hosokawa M, Sashima T, Takahashi N, Miyashita K. Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Hokkaido 041-8611, Japan.
Fucoxanthin is a major carotenoid found in edible seaweed such as Undaria pinnatifida and Hijikia fusiformis. We investigated the suppressive effects of fucoxanthin and its metabolite, fucoxanthinol, on the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes to adipocytes. Our results suggest that fucoxanthin and fucoxanthinol inhibit the adipocyte differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells through down-regulation of PPARgamma. Fucoxanthinol had stronger suppressive effects than fucoxanthin on adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells.

Fucoxanthin as the major antioxidant in Hijikia fusiformis, a common edible seaweed.
Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 1999; National Food Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ibaraki, Japan.
The radical scavenging activity of Japanese edible seaweeds was screened by the DPPH (1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assay to evaluate the DPPH radical scavenging activity in organic extracts. The fresh brown alga Hijikia fusiformis showed the strongest DPPH radical scavenging activity, followed by Undaria pinnatifida and Sargassum fulvellum. The major active compound from Hijikia fusiformis in its acetone extract was identified as fucoxanthin.