Ecofriendly extraction of bioactive fractions from Sargassum muticum

Abstract

Abstract An ecofriendly process based on an enzyme-assisted extraction coupled with ultrasound extraction was proposed to obtain soluble bioactive fractions from Sargassum muticum. Whole algae (Sm) and residual algae from alginate production (AESm) were employed as feedstock. Aqueous enzyme treatment with commercial complex enzyme formulations or with mixture of enzymes lead to maximum solubilization yield, phenolic content and antioxidant activity extract after 3 h of extraction using 2–5% (wt%) enzyme loads. The enzyme-assisted treatment coupled with ultrasounds was tested for two different enzyme activities. The coupled treatment enhanced the solubilization yields from AESm samples, and increased the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of extracts from whole Sm samples. The extracts from Sm showed slightly higher proportion of unsaturated fatty acids than those from AESm and ω3:ω6 ratio close to 1. One gram of extract was equivalent to 30 mg ascorbic acid and 200 mg Trolox and the cytotoxic activity against murine melanoma B16F10 cells and human liposarcoma SW872 cells was observed at 50–250 μg/L, whereas on fibroblast occurred at more than 500 μg/L.