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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Macroalgae have been recently used for
different applications in the food, cosmetic and
pharmaceutical industry since they do not compete
for land and freshwater against other resources.
Moreover, they have been highlighted as a potential
source of bioactive compounds. Red algae (Rhodo-
phyta) are the largest group of seaweeds, including
around 6000 different species, thus it can be hypoth-
esized that they are a potential source of bioactive
compounds. Sulfated polysaccharides, mainly agar
and carrageenans, are the most relevant and exploited
compounds of red algae. Other potential molecules are
essential fatty acids, phycobiliproteins, vitamins,
minerals, and other secondary metabolites. All these
compounds have been demonstrated to exert several
biological activities, among which antioxidant, anti-
inflammatory, antitumor, and antimicrobial properties can be highlighted. Nevertheless, these properties
need to be further tested on in vivo experiments and go
in-depth in the study of the mechanism of action of the
specific molecules and the understanding of the
structure–activity relation. At last, the extraction
technologies are essential for the correct isolation of
the molecules, in a cost-effective way, to facilitate the
scale-up of the processes and their further application
by the industry. This manuscript is aimed at describing
the fundamental composition of red algae and their
most studied biological properties to pave the way to
the utilization of this underused resource.
Description
Keywords
Red algae Sulfated polysaccharides Bioactive compounds Biological properties Extraction techniques
Citation
Carpena Rodríguez, María; García-Pérez, Pascual; García-Oliveira, Paula; Chamorro Rivo, Franklin Noel; Otero, Paz; Lourenço-Lopes, Catarina; Cao, Hui; Simal-Gandara, Jesus; Prieto Lage, Miguel A. (2022). Biological properties and potential of compounds extracted from red seaweeds. Phytochemistry Reviews. ISSN 1568-7767.