2.2.9. Anti-Neurological Disease

Neurological disorders are diseases of the nervous system, such as brain tumors, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) [51]. In a study conducted by Yoon et al. [24], fucosterol extracted from *Ecklonia cava* subsp. *stolonifera* showed the presence of cholinesterase inhibitors against AchE and BchE. BChE was inhibited by fucosterol and 24-hydroperoxy 24-vinylcholesterol, with IC50 values of 421.72 ± 1.43 and 176.46 ± 2.51 μM, respectively. The effect of the compound on amyloid-induced neurotoxicity can be used to determine the potential of the compound as an anti-AD [16,52]. Consequently, *Padina australis*-derived fucosterol reduced intracellular amyloid levels and increased neuroglobin mRNA expression in amyloid-induced SH-SY5Y cells [16]. Fucosterol extracted from *Ecklonia cava* subsp. *stolonifera* co-infusion attenuated cognitive impairment-induced sAβ1-42 in aging mice via the downregulation of GRP78 expression [52]. Furthermore, the anti-AD properties of fucosterol from macroalgae have also been reported by Jung et al. [53] and Wong et al. [54]. Research on effects of fucosterol against Parkinson's disease has been described by Paudel et al. [55], and it was found to exhibit a mild dopamine D4 antagonist effect by inhibiting the dopamine agonist effect by 32% at 100 μM. Furthermore, fucosterol extracted from *Sargassum fusiforme* has also been reported to inhibit epilepsy and act as an antidepressant. The group treated with 20 mg/kg fucosterol showed a significant increase in the hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels (*p* < 0.05). Published studies show that fucosterol from marine algae can be an alternative compound for the treatment of neurological diseases.
