Antioxidant Activity of Marine Algal Polyphenolic Compounds: A Mechanistic Approach

Abstract

Polyphenolic compounds isolated from marine algae exhibit a broad spectrum of beneficial biological properties, including antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antidiabetic activities, along with several other bioactivities centered on their antioxidant properties. Consequently, polyphenolic compounds are increasingly being investigated for their potential use in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical applications. The antioxidant activities of these compounds have been explored widely through experimental studies. Nonetheless, a theoretical understanding of the structural and electronic properties could broaden research perspectives, leading to the identification and synthesis of efficient structural analogs with prophylactic uses. This review briefly summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding antioxidant polyphenolic compounds in marine algae with an attempt to describe the structure-activity relationship.

Antioxidant properties of the red alga Asparagopsis taxiformis collected on the North West Algerian coast

“…A number of studies have investigated the antioxidant properties of flavonoids in terms of anionic superoxide scavenging (104,105). The antioxidant potential of Asparagopsis taxiformis extracts indicates that algae extracts exert cytoprotective effects and supports their use as to treat conditions induced by oxidant stress.…”

Antioxidant screening and phenolic content of ethanol extracts of selected Baja California Peninsula macroalgae

“…Marine algae are a rich source of bioactive secondary metabolites, including phenols and polyphenols (Fernando et al 2016). Antioxidant activity, an important property of bioactive algal compounds, has been ascribed to their reactive oxygen species scavenging ability, quenching singlet oxygen, reducing power, and chelating ability (Andrade et al 2013;Maharana et al 2015).…”

“…Other studies found that polyphenols in brown macroalgae have extraordinary and effective antioxidant activities (Zubia et al 2009;Machu et al 2015), which suggest that higher total phenolic content can result in higher antioxidant capacity. The high phenolic content of Baja California E. arborea, P. concrecens, and C. osmundacea can explain their potent radical scavenging activity, since polyphenol compounds contain reducing properties, such as hydrogen or electrondonating agents, which contribute to free radical scavenger potential (Fernando et al 2016). Although Acanthophora spicifera had low phenolic content, its extract had significant antioxidant activity.…”

“…Macroalgae have antioxidant systems to counteract environmental stresses, and produce bioactive compounds, including polyphenols, alkaloids, terpenes, phycocyanins, carotenoids, and various enzymes (Maharana et al 2015). The polyphenols from macroalgae are more potent that their analogues from terrestrial plants (Nagayama et al 2002), and possess strong antioxidant activity based on up to eight interconnected phenol rings (Fernando et al 2016). In the last years, the searching has been focused on natural antioxidants capable of inhibiting reactive oxygen radical mediated oxidative stress (Machu et al 2015;VizettoDuarte et al 2016).…”

Potential Role of Seaweed Polyphenols in Cardiovascular-Associated Disorders

“…In this study, the total phenolic compound content obtained in sea spaghetti was significantly higher than in the rest of the species and this seaweed had the highest value of antioxidant activity measured by the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and the 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) methods. In 2016, Fernando et al [27] reviewed the antioxidant properties of numerous polyphenolic compounds derived from marine algae and described their structure–activity relationship. The antioxidant effect of polyphenols is related to their capacity to enhance the enzymatic activity of different enzymes, including catalase, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase, their potent free radical scavenging properties and their ability to interact with other molecular targets, as they are capable of reducing arginase-2, and activating the Nrf2/ARE pathway and SIRT-1 [28] (Figure 2).…”