Inflammatory processes are related with several cardiovascular diseases and oxidative stress, therefore its study is of high interest. Among anti-inflammatory compounds from algal sources astaxanthine, terpenes, sterols, indols, and shikimate- derivatives have been described [105] . There is a huge amount of enzymes and secondary metabolites involved in inflammatory processes, but the general trend is to measure the expression of some of those metabolites and/or enzymes when cells involved in the inflammatory response are “activated.” Leukocytes are among the most studied models; leukocyte migration has been shown to be one of the first steps in the initiation of an inflammatory/immune response and is essential for accumulation of active immune cells at sites of inflammation. The chemotaxis assay used to analyze the test material is designed to assess the ability of a test material to inhibit the migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) toward a known chemotactic agent.

For example, polysaccharides from red microalga primarily inhibited the migration of PMNs toward a standard chemoattractant molecule and also partially blocked adhesion of PMNs to endothelial cells [101].