Free Radicals and Actinobacteria as a Misexplored Goldmine of Antioxidant Compounds

Abstract

Free radicals are highly reactive unstable molecules, which can be synthesized in different ways, considered harmful and threatening to humans; these chemical species have free traffi c throughout the human body, interacting with biological molecules and human body organ tissues. The interaction between free radicals and biological molecules is the main factor for disease development or pre-existing disease symptoms aggravation. Antioxidants are chemical compounds able to donate electric charge to stabilize molecules such as free radicals. Recent studies have proved the benefi ts of antioxidants intake in health improvement. In this way, the search for natural sources of antioxidants has become an ascending trend. In this fi eld, the microbial sources are considered poorly explored compared to the numerous amount of other compounds obtained from them, especially from Actinobacteria. The searched literature about Actinobacteria highlights an important capacity of producing natural antioxidants; however, there is a lack of in vivo studies of these isolated compounds. In this review, we gathered information that supports our point of view that Actinobacteria is a truly renewable and superfi cially explored source of natural antioxidants. Furthermore, our purpose is also to point this limitation and stimulate more researches in this area.