Abstract
Bifurcaria bifurcata is a marine brown seaweed mainly found on the Atlantic coast. Herein, we report the antioxidant and neuroprotective activities of seven fractions (F1–F7) obtained by normal phase chromatography from the B. bifurcata dichloromethane extract, as well as of its two major isolated diterpenes. Total phenolic content of fractions was determined by the Folin–Ciocalteu method, while antioxidant activity was evaluated by the DPPH, ORAC, and FRAP assays. Neuroprotective effects were evaluated in a neurotoxic model induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in a human neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y), while the mechanisms associated to neuroprotection were investigated by the determination of mitochondrial membrane potential, H2O2 production, Caspase-3 activity, and by observation of DNA fragmentation. Fractions F4 and F5 exhibited the best neuroprotective and antioxidant activities, respectively. F4 fraction prevented changes in mitochondrial potential, and induced a reduction of H2O2 levels production and an increase in cell viability, suggesting that it may contain multi-target compounds acting on different pathways. Hence, this fraction was subjected to purification steps, affording the known diterpenes eleganolone and eleganonal. Both compounds exhibited antioxidant potential, being interesting candidates for further neuroprotective studies.
Highlights
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease which affects the movement of aged population, and is characterized by the accumulation of Lewy bodies, loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of pars compacta (SNpc), and depletion of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) [1,2]
Pursuing our work on the study of the therapeutic potential of seaweeds collected in the Peniche coast, Portugal, we report the antioxidant and neuroprotective activities of fractions obtained from B. bifurcata dichloromethane extract
These studies in agreement with the results our work, extract).that. These are of in phenolics, agreement with the results obtained in our work, suggesting that the suggesting thestudies presence like polyphenols and phlorotannins, in B. bifurcata extracts presence of phenolics, like polyphenols and phlorotannins, in bifurcata extracts and fractions, are and fractions, are responsible for their antioxidant properties
Summary
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease which affects the movement of aged population, and is characterized by the accumulation of Lewy bodies, loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of pars compacta (SNpc), and depletion of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) [1,2]. Amongst the various marine organisms, seaweeds are a rich source of bioactive compounds that are not found in other organisms, exhibiting diverse biological activities, such as antioxidant, antitumor, antimicrobial, neuroprotector, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory, among others [9,10,11]. Among the various species of macroalgae, only a limited number has been the subject of several studies because of their rich chemical composition and diversity of biological activity or health benefits, namely brown algae [13]. These algae have shown the ability to produce a wide variety of secondary metabolites with unique structures exhibiting various functionalities [14], the algae Bifurcaria bifurcata. The isolation and characterization of compounds isolated from the most bioactive fraction is presented, aiming to support and to rationalize the mechanisms of neuroprotection reported
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