Supercritical carbon dioxide anti-solvent precipitation of anti-oxidative zeaxanthin highly recovered by elution chromatography from Nannochloropsis oculata

Medicinal Prospects of Antioxidants From Algal Sources in Cancer Therapy

Though cancer therapeutics can successfully eradicate cancerous cells, the effectiveness of these medications is mostly restricted to several deleterious side effects. Therefore, to alleviate these side effects, antioxidant supplementation is often warranted, reducing reactive species levels and mitigating persistent oxidative damage. Thus, it can impede the growth of cancer cells while protecting the normal cells simultaneously. Moreover, antioxidant supplementation alone or in combination with chemotherapeutics hinders further tumor development, prevents chemoresistance by improving the response to chemotherapy drugs, and enhances cancer patients' quality of life by alleviating side effects. Preclinical and clinical studies have been revealed the efficacy of using phytochemical and dietary antioxidants from different sources in treating chemo and radiation therapy-induced toxicities and enhancing treatment effectiveness. In this context, algae, both micro and macro, can be considered as alternative natural sources of antioxidants. Algae possess antioxidants from diverse groups, which can be exploited in the pharmaceutical industry. Despite having nutritional benefits, investigation and utilization of algal antioxidants are still in their infancy. This review article summarizes the prospective anticancer effect of twenty-three antioxidants from microalgae and their potential mechanism of action in cancer cells, as well as usage in cancer therapy. In addition, antioxidants from seaweeds, especially from edible species, are outlined, as well.

Low density supercritical fluids precipitation of 9-cis and all trans-β-carotenes enriched particulates from Dunaliella salina

In this study, supercritical anti-solvent (SAS) pulverization coupled with reverse phase elution chromatography was employed to isolate 9-cis and trans-β-carotenes from Dunaliella salina. Total concentration of 9-cis (134.7mg/g) and trans-β-carotene (204.2mg/g) was increased from 338.9mg/g of the ultrasonic extract to 859.7mg/g (338.9 for 9-cis and 520.8 for trans) of the elution fraction. The SAS pulverization of the collected fraction further produced submicron-sized particulates containing 932.1mg/g (355.6 for 9-cis and 576.5 for trans) of total β-carotenes with a recovery of 86.3% (83.9% for cis and 87.8% for trans). Effects of two SAS operational conditions on the purity, recovery of total β-carotenes, mean size and morphology of the precipitates were obtained from an experimentally designed method. Generation of micronized particulates enriched with 9-cis and trans-β-carotenes by low-density SAS was proved to be feasible and environmental benign.