Gastroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties of green lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus) preparation

K D Rainsford, M W Whitehouse

Australian scientists showed that GLME mussel extract has a protective effect on the stomach lining, unlike common pharmaceutical agents for treating arthritis, which actually promote stomach ulceration. In addition, these scientists found that the lipid component of the extract, which was responsible for this protective effect on the stomach lining, also demonstrated a mild anti-inflammatory activity.

Abstract

Freeze-dried powdered preparations of whole (i.e. without shell) green-lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus) from New Zealand given orally to rats showed some modest anti-inflammatory activity (carrageenan paw oedema). This material strikingly reduced the gastric ulcerogenicity of several non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs in rats and pigs. The gastroprotective activity in rats was primarily associated with particular lipid fractions, which exhibited differential protective activity against acetylsalicylic acid on the one hand and indometacin on the other.