Evaluation of the antioxidant activity of three microalgal species for use as dietary supplements and in the preservation of foods

Ignacio Rodriguez-Garcia; Jose Luis Guil-Guerrero

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.11.059

Evaluation of the antioxidant activity of three microalgal species for use as dietary supplements and in the preservation of foods

Food Chem. 2008 Jun 1;108(3):1023-6. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.11.059. Epub 2007 Dec 3.

Authors

Ignacio Rodriguez-Garcia¹, Jose Luis Guil-Guerrero²

Affiliations

¹ Dpt. Química Orgánica, Universidad de Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain.
² Área de Tecnología de Alimentos, Universidad de Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain. Electronic address: jlguil@ual.es.

PMID: 26065767
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.11.059

Abstract

The antioxidant activity of the microalgal ethanolic extracts of Porphyridium cruentum, Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Chlorella vulgaris was determined by means of the β-carotene-linoleate model system. The results show that the activity of C. vulgaris extract was higher than those obtained for the other microalgal extracts tested and for the synthetics BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene). In addition, the major constituents present in the ethanolic extracts of the three microalgae species were analyzed by means of GC and GC-mass spectrometry. The results showed that the tested microalgae may be an important source of natural antioxidants, as an alternative to higher plants or the production by chemical synthesis.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity; Chlorella vulgaris; Phaeodactylum tricornutum; Porphyridium cruentum; β-Carotene–linoleate model system.