Biological activities and potential cosmeceutical applications of bioactive components from brown seaweeds: a review

Abstract

Seaweeds are the primary producers of all aquatic ecosystems. Chemical constituents isolated from diverse classes of seaweeds exert a wide range of nutritional, functional and biological activities. Unique metabolites of seaweeds possess specific biological properties that make them potential ingredients of many industrial applications such as functional foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmeceuticals. Cosmeceuticals of natural origin are becoming more popular than synthetic cosmetics. Hence, the investigation of new seaweeds derived functional components, a different source of natural products, has proven to be a promising area of cosmeceutical studies. Brown seaweeds also produce a range of active components including unique secondary metabolites such as phlorotannins and many of which have specific biological activities that give possibilities for their economic utilization. Brown seaweeds derived active compounds have been shown various functional properties including, antioxidant, antiwrinkling, whitening, antiinflammatory and antiallergy.It is well-known that these kind of biological effects are closely associated with cosmeceutical preparations. This communication reviews the current knowledge on brown seaweeds derived metabolites with various biological activities and the potential use as cosmeceutical ingredients. It is hoped that the reviewed literature on multifunctional properties of brown seaweeds will improve access to the seaweed based natural products specially the ability to incorporate these functional properties in cosmeceutical applications.

Marine natural products: chemical and biological potential of seaweeds and their endophytic fungi

“…Among all marine algae, the members of the Laminariaceae family are reported to be the richest source of phlorotannins (Thomas & Kim, 2011 (Thomas & Kim, 2011). Recently, the biological knowledge and the promising potential for cosmeceutical applications have been reviewed for phlorotannins, some alginates (25) and fucoxanthins (26) (Wijesinghe & Jeon, 2011). Dieckol (27) has been reported as a promising target for application in antiaging and whitening formulations due to its exceptional protective activity against photooxidative stress, besides its tyrosinase inhibitory activity (Heo et al, 2009;Li et al, 2009).…”

Marine Bioactive Fibers: Alginate and Chitosan Fibers-A Critical Review

“…It involves the use of fiber and textile materials to deliver a wide range of microencapsulated ingredients such as aloe vera, vitamin E, retinol, and caffeine that can offer moisturizing, firming, or slimming benefits [17]. The next generation of cosmetic textile products could potentially go beyond beauty, by utilizing innovative new methods to deliver medical, anti-aging, and stressrelieving benefits through apparel textiles and other products.…”

Algae of economic importance that accumulate cadmium and lead: a review

“…The diversity of compounds synthesized by marine algae via a variety of metabolic pathways is the result of the defense strategies that they have developed in order to survive in a highly competitive environment. Hence, many of these secondary metabolites are chemically distinct from those found in terrestrial organisms (Burja et al, 2001;Singh et al, 2005;Blunt et al, 2005;Carignan et al, 2009;Wijesinghe & Jeon, 2011). According to Kamatou et al (2008), the presence of these compounds may help explain some of the traditional uses of medicinal plants.…”

“…They constitute a large and diverse group of organisms that play vital ecological roles in marine communities and can be classified into three categories according to their pigmentation: brown, red and green algae (Wijesinghe & Jeon, 2011).…”

“…The brown seaweeds or Phaeophyceae are noted for producing a range of active components, including unique secondary metabolites such as phlorotannins (Wijesinghe & Jeon, 2011). In addition, several components of brown algae have been explored for their antioxidant, antiallergic, antiinflammatory, antiwrinkling and whitening properties.…”