Of many methods adopted to develop new drugs from natural products against different pathology mechanisms of
inflammatory
process, we are probably the first to make an attempt to investigate natural substances from marine organisms against human leukocyte elastase (HLE, EC3.4.21.37) in vitro . In our investigation, the methanol extracts of thirty nine marine algae (5 green, 13 brown and 21 red) collected from the coasts of China were evaluated for the anti
inflammatory activity. Significant biological activity was obtained in seven algae: Symphyocladia latiuscula, Plocamium telfairiae, Gracilaria verrucosa, Chondria tenuissima and Chondria crassicaulis, Chondria tenuissima and Chondria crassicaulis. And the most potential species was Chorda filum with 98.9% inhibition at 25μg/ml, which shows that Chorda filum may have some compounds with remarkable inhibitory effect against HLE. Differently, green algae have no activity in the experiment. In conclusion, our research demonstrates that marine algae are a potential source of natural products showing
anti inflammatory effect against HLE and merit further investigation.