Bioprospecting for bioactives from seaweeds: potential, obstacles and alternatives

Abstract

Seaweeds are potential sources of high biotechnological interest due to production of a great diversity of compounds exhibiting a broad spectrum of biological activities. On the other hand, there is an urgent need for management options for a sustainable approach to the use of marine organisms as a source of bioactive compounds. This review discusses the bioprospection for bioactive seaweed compounds as pharmaceuticals and antifouling agents, encompassing their potential and possible obstacles and alternatives. In spite of their potential, research on pharmaceuticals and antifouling agents from seaweeds includes mainly the search for molecules that exhibit these biological activities, but lacks of consideration of fundamental and limiting aspects such as the development of alternatives to sustainable supply. However, for the complete development of pharmaceuticals and antifouling compounds in Brazil, marine bioprospection should be more comprehensive, associating the search for molecules with an analysis of their supply. In this way, it is possible to promote sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity, as well as to assert the economic development of Brazil.

<b>Extraction and structural properties of <i>Acanthophora muscoides </i>(Rhodophyceae) extracellular matrix sulfated polysaccharides and their effects on coagulation

“…This contrasted with a previous study by Quinderé et al (2013) who formerly reported the A. muscoides SPs physical and chemical characterization by agarose gel when Am-1 did not appear on gel and Am-3 had an intense metachromasia, as well as differing from other studied algae species SPs (Athukorala et al, 2006;Rodrigues et al, 2009;Rodrigues et al, 2011;Araújo et al, 2012).Thus, it was speculated that this algal species would perhaps biochemically change its Acta Scientiarum. Technology Maringá, v. 38, n. 3, p. 273-282, July-Sept., 2016 matrix polysaccharide composition according to the collection period (Zvyagintseva et al, 2003;Cardozo et al, 2007;Pereira & Costa-Lotufo, 2012). Regarding the PAGE procedure, there was no electrophoretic migration of the SPs fractions during the performance of three consecutive extractions, for any standard glycosaminoglycan observed, as a result of their high molecular masses (> 100 kDa) (Pomin, 2012;Fidelis et al, 2014;Mourão, 2015), except the 0.5 NaCl fraction (Am-1) that presented polydispersion as chondroitin-6-sulfate.…”

“…Overall, our combined observations could reflect important biochemical aspects in the cell wall architecture polysaccharide composition of A. muscoides. However, further studies on the composition of these biomaterials in different periods of the year with possible impacts on their bioactivities should be conducted (Pereira & Costa-Lotufo, 2012).…”

“…Marine macroalgae (seaweeds) contain structurally unique metabolites (e.g., carbohydrates, lectins and lipids) (Mayer, Rodriguez, Berlinck, & Hamann, 2007;Miguel et al, 2014) recognized to have a broad spectrum of functionalities for scientific studies (e.g., pharmaceutics) (Cardozo et al, 2007;Fidelis et al, 2014;Wu, Shiu, Hsieh, & Tsai, 2016), industrial applications (e.g., foods and cosmetics) (Cardozo et al, 2007;Prajapati, Maheriya, Jani, & Solanki, 2014), and in biotechnological field (e.g., tissue engineering and drug delivery) (Pereira & Costa-Lotufo, 2012) due to their pronounced physical (e.g., gelling and stabilizing) and biological (e.g., anticoagulation and anti-inflammation) abilities of considerable interest toward polymer industry worldwide (Cardozo et al, 2007;Rodrigues, Vanderlei, Quinderé, Fontes, & Benevides, 2010;Pomin, 2012;Prajapati et al, 2014).…”

“…Anticoagulation (Rodrigues et al, 2009;Rodrigues et al, 2013;Mourão, 2015), antinociception and anti-inflammation Rodrigues et al, 2012;Wu et al, 2016) are some of their most important pharmacological properties. Although also occurring in other living organisms (Aquino, Landeira-Fernandez, Valente, Andrade, & Mourão, 2005;Dantas-Santos et al, 2012;Chang, Lur, Lu, & Cheng, 2013), sulfated galactans (mainly carrageenan and agar) (Rhodophyceae) (Estevez et al, 2008;Mourão, 2015), fucan or fuicodan (Phaeophyceae) (Leite et al, 1998;Pereira & Costa-Lotufo, 2012) and other structurally diverse SPs found in Chlorophyceae Rodrigues et al, 2014) are the main classes of these biomolecules present in nature. Yield and physical-chemical and biological properties of SPs depend 1) on the morphology of the thallus; 2) the tissue under study (Estevez et al, 2008;Miguel et al, 2014); 3) the use of different protocols and algal species for extraction (Rodrigues et al, 2009;Rodrigues et al, 2011;Araújo et al, 2012); 4) climatic factors; and 5) growth and/or the reproducible cycle of the algae (Zvyagintseva et al, 2003;Cardozo et al, 2007;Pereira & Costa-Lotufo, 2012).…”

Bioprospecting of Turbinaria Macroalgae as a Potential Source of Health Protective Compounds

“…caulerpenin produced by green algae, lanosol, vidalol or elatol generated by red seaweeds, or dictyopterene C, pachydictyol A, fucodiphlorethol and epitaondiol produced by brown algae have attracted the attention of scientists for decades. [1] Except these, also the healthy lipids, i.e., mainly those containing the 'omega-3' long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, polar lipids as phospholipids/glycolipids with the positive health impact or healthy sterols can be very promising in terms of further use in food/feed industry. Recently, several papers focusing on the lipidomic characterization of marine resources have discussed this topic.…”