English

Abstract

The implications of diet on health sustainability have assumed a major importance. Microcystis are able to enhance the nutritional content of conventional food and feed preparation and hence to positively affect humans and animal health due to their original chemical compositions, protein contents, antioxidant properties, vitamins and other biologically active compounds. Butylated hydroxytoluene ‘BHT’ is one of the synthetic antioxidant agents commonly used for food additives. Cyanobactria like Oscillatoria sp. and Microcystis aerungionosa, those are commonly available in the coastal zone of Puri District of Odisha State were capable of producing this compound. Extracts from these two species exhibited various degrees of antioxidant properties when they were tested with free radical scavenging assay. The highest antioxidant activity was observed in the extracts of Microcystic aerungionosa, which displayed a similar activity to synthetic BHT. Gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy analysis concluded that the compounds are very similar to the synthetic BHT. This synthetic antioxidant was produced in the cells irradiated with higher light intensity. More BHT was produced in the cells irradiated with a higher light intensity and its production was irradiance dependent. The quantity of cellular BHT displayed a positive correlation with antioxidant activity of the tested species. The present study confirms the production of natural antioxidant like BHT from these two species of Puri District of Odisha State which constitute a potential source for producing natural antioxidant. KeywordsButylated hydroxytoluene, cyanobacteria, green alga, irradiance, natural antioxidant. International Journal of Microbiology Research ISSN: 0975-5276 & E-ISSN:0975-9174, Volume 4, Issue 6, 2012 Introduction Lipid peroxidation is mostly an undesirable deteriorative reaction in food materials, which can produce rancid odors and flavors during storage and processing. Moreover the nutritional quality and safety of foods also can easily change due to their toxic compound formation [1,2].These lipid peroxidation by-products, called free radicals, give damage to healthy cells and thereby create harmful molecules. Free radicals and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated continuously not only via normal physiological processes but also by external stimulations. Normal physiological processes need oxygen in order to carry out their operations as a resultant by-product like ROS are produced within the human body. If these harmful factors accumulate in cell, tissue and other vital organs of the body, then our body exposed to dangerous circumstances of the external stimulation, ROS can be induced by tobacco smoke, ionizing radiation, certain pollutants, organic solvents and pesticides [3,4]. ROS including superoxide (O2 hydroxyl radical (HO·) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), have the ability to react with a large variety of easily oxidizable cellular components, such as proteins, lipids, nucleic acids and carbohydrates. Their oxidative damages cause aging and many other diseases, including arthritis, strokes, heart diseases, atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancers and neurodegenerative disorders [5,6]. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as the superoxide anion, Citation: Pradyuti Dash and Padhi S.B. (2012) Natural Antioxidant Production by Oscillatoria Sp. and Microcystis Sp. From Ponds of Puri District, Odisha. International Journal of Microbiology Research, ISSN: 0975-5276 & E-ISSN:0975-9174, Volume 4, Issue 6, pp.-249-252. Copyright: Copyright©2012 Pradyuti Dash and Padhi S.B. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.