Plasmalogen

Plasmalogen, a remarkable component of ascidians, called sea pineapple.

Plasmalogen is found in the brain, heart, and muscles and is classified as a glycerophospholipid, which is a lipid.
It was discovered in 1924 and is called plasmalogen because of its characteristic of producing aldehydes, a type of fatty acid, when the cytoplasm (plasma) is treated with acid.
Plasmalogen is synthesized in the body and gradually increase until about age 40, but they are reported to decrease significantly at about age 70, to about 40% of that of younger people.
Plasmalogen, which is important for life, are found in chicken thighs, scallops, and ascidians, and there are many kinds of them.Among them, ethanolamine-type plasmalogen, which have DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) in their structure, are abundant in the human brain and other nervous tissues.
Ascidians contain more of this ethanolamine-type plasmalogen than chicken thighs or scallops, and ascidians themselves are known to be similar to humans in tracing the phylogenetic evolution of their neural tissue.
Sun Chlorella use ascidians farmed in Hokkaido as a raw material, which is processed into a highly stable freeze-dried powder, to produce our products.

Pictures of Plasmalogen

Product lineup