Microalgae-based unsaponifiable matter as source of natural antioxidants and metal chelators to enhance the value of wet Tetraselmis chuii biomass

• Autor(a) principal: Gangadhar N. Katkam, Dr.
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: H., Pereira, Rodrigues, Maria João, L, Custódio, Barreira, Luísa, Malcata, F. Xavier, J. C. or Varela J. or Varela J.C.S., Varela
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/14656
• topic: Tetraselmis chuii; Unsaponifiable matter; Antioxidants; Metal chelators; Phenolics

The present work aimed to determine the antioxidant, metal chelating and neuroprotective potential of the unsaponifiable matter (UM) of Tetraselmis chuii to be applied to a biorefinery setting. The UM obtained via saponification from crude lipids extracted from microalgal wet biomass showed a radical scavenging activity (RSA) towards the DPPH radical of 90.7 +/- 1.3% and 57.1 +/- 1.2% at a concentration of 10 and 5 mg/ mL, respectively. The UM fraction also displayed metal chelating capacity at a concentration of 5 mg/ mL: 58.5 +/- 1.4% and 50.9 +/- 4.0% for copper and iron, respectively. The chemical characterization of the UM revealed significant levels of total phenolics (TPC, 13.61 mg GAE/g) and carotenoids (2.45 mg/g of beta-carotene, lutein and violaxanthin). Overall, the separation of the UM containing high value metabolites might significantly upgrade the total wet biomass value in a biorefinery, allowing the exploitation of a stream with relevant antioxidant and metal chelating activities.