Endothelial Cell-Based Methods for the Detection of Cyanobacterial Anti- Inflammatory and Wound-Healing Promoting Metabolites

Acute lung injury is accompanied by an increased endothelial chemokine production and adhesion molecule expression, which may result in an extensive neutrophil infiltration. Moreover, a destruction of the alveolar epithelium and capillary endothelium may result in permeability edema. As such, the search for novel anti-inflammatory substances, able to downregulate these parameters as well as the tissue damage holds therapeutic promise. We therefore describe here the use of human endothelial cell-based in vitro assays for the detection of anti-inflammatory and wound-healing metabolites from cyanobacteria. Keywords: Nostoc, ARDS, endothelium, ICAM-1, Interleukin 8, wound-healing