Abstract
Carrageenan and carrageenan oligosaccharides are red seaweed sulfated carbohydrates with well-known antiviral properties, mainly through the blocking of the viral attachment stage. They also exhibit other interesting biological properties and can be used to prepare different drug delivery systems for controlled administration. The most active forms are λ-, ι-, and κ-carrageenans, the degree and sulfation position being determined in their properties. They can be obtained from sustainable worldwide available resources and the influence of manufacturing on composition, structure, and antiviral properties should be considered. This review presents a survey of the antiviral properties of carrageenan in relation to the processing conditions, particularly those assisted by intensification technologies during the extraction stage, and discusses the possibility of further chemical modifications.
Highlights
Different approaches to assessing the antiviral activity of carrageenans have been described in the literature, all share the need to rule out the cytotoxicity of the compound/concentration used and quantify the virus before and after treatment
Cytotoxicity is mainly determined by colorimetric methods such as 30 -[4,5dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and neutral red and crystal violet staining, and results are expressed as the cytotoxic concentration 50% (CC50 ), the compound concentration, which reduces cell viability to 50%
In all In antiviral assays, results are expressed as theasinhibitory concentration or, more frequently, as the effective concentration 50% (EC50 ), both defined as the comor, more frequently, as the effective concentration 50% (EC50), both defined as the compound concentration required to reduce virus yield by 50%
Summary
Novel antivirals are demanded to fight against viral infections with no available treatment and to overcome certain problems associated with the use of some current drugs, such as unsatisfactory efficacy, adverse effects, toxicity, viral resistance, and high cost [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Ngo and Kim focused on sulfate polysaccharides derived from marine algae and presented an overview of their biological activities, including antiviral [18]. Besednova and co-authors reviewed the studies on the potential use of different algal metabolites, including polysaccharides, for the prevention and treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) [16]. The dietary and pharmaceutical applications of polysaccharides in the prevention and treatment of viral diseases [31] and the marine glycan-based antiviral drugs undergoing preclinical and clinical trials [2] have been recently reviewed. Cheong and co-authors published a new perspective on the potential applications of carrageenan oligomers in the functional food and pharmaceutical industry with an emphasis on the production, purification, analysis, characterization, and biological properties [33]. The present review discusses the relevance of the processing conditions on the antiviral properties of carrageenans
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