Purpose: To investigate the in-vitro antioxidant and anti-neuroinflammatory effects of Suaeda maritime (L) Dumort ethyl acetate (SM-EA) extract in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV-2 microglial cells.

Methods:  LPS-stimulated BV- microglia were used to study the expression and production of inflammatory mediators, viz, nitric oxide (NO), inducible NO synthase (iNOS, interleukin (IL)-6) and tumor necrosis alpha (TNF-α). Antioxidant activity was measured using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Cell viability was estimated by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5- diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.

Results: SM-EA extract significantly suppressed LPS-induced production of NO (p < 0.001 at 80 and 100 μg/ml) and expression of iNOS in BV-2 cells. SM-EA also suppressed LPS-induced increase in IL-6 and TNF-α levels (p < 0.001at 100 μg/ml) in BV- cells. Further, DPPH-generated free radicals were inhibited by SM-EA extract in a concentration-dependent manner (p < 0.01 at 0.1 mg/ml and p < 0.001 at 1 mg/ml) with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.42 mg/ml.

Conclusion: The findings imply that SM-EA extract can be developed as a potential therapeutic agent in regulating microglia-mediated neuroinflammatory responses observed in several neurodegenerative diseases.