Isolation and Characterization of Water Soluble Bioactive Substances from Marine Photosynthetic Microalga Tetraselmis Species

Abstract

Isolation, quantification and characterization of bioactive compounds from microalgae Tetraselmis species have been performed to elucidate the potential use as a bioactive material. Microalga are a promising source of lipids for biofuel production and represent a diverse group of microscopic photosynthetic organisms and are able to convert solar energy into biomasses. The imposition of oxidative stresses by various environmental factors leads to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plant cells, including algal cell. Antioxidant activity of water soluble bioactive substances (WSBS) was determined by DPPH, ABTS, FRAP and similar SOD radical-scavenging assay. The content analysis of lipid, sugar, polyphenol and protein was performed to evaluate the potent usefulness of WSBS from the whole cells cultivated under the optimum conditions for the production of biodiesel. The yield of WSBS was determined to be 17% based on the total carbohydrate assay. The relative activity of WSBS toward FRAP and DPPH reagent was observed ranging from 13 to 55%, showing the significant antioxidative properties with wide range of temperatures from room temperature to 80oC. The outcomes of this study support utilization of WSBS from microalgae Tetraselmis species as a potential source of naturally occurring antioxidants.