Abstract
To uncover the potential of Pavlova pinguis J.C. Green as a natural source of value added compounds, its lipophilic extracts were studied before and after alkaline hydrolysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The GC-MS analysis of the lipophilic extracts showed a wide chemical diversity including 72 compounds distributed by fatty acids (29), sterols (14), fatty alcohols (13) and other lipophilic compounds (16). Fatty acids represented the main class of identified compounds presenting myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic and eicosapentaenoic acids as its main components. Through the ∑ω6/∑ω3 ratio (0.25) and sterol composition it was possible to observe that P. pinguis is a valuable source of ω3 fatty acids and stigmasterol (up to 43% of total sterols). After alkaline hydrolysis, fatty acids and fatty alcohols content increased by 32 and 14% respectively, in contrast to, monoglycerides which decreased by 84%. The long chain alcohols content enables the exploitation of this microalga as a source of these bioactive compounds. Smaller amounts of sugars and other compounds were also detected. The present study is a valuable reference to the metabolite characterization of P. pinguis and shows the potential of this microalga for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries.
Highlights
To uncover the potential of Pavlova pinguis J.C
Included in the health beneficial phytochemicals synthesized by microalgae are terpenes, sterols, phenolics, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins among other compounds[9,10]
The growth rate determined for P. pinguis was 0.8 day−1 and the maximum cell concentration, reached by this microalga, was 8.46 × 106 cells mL−1, Fig. 1
Summary
To uncover the potential of Pavlova pinguis J.C. Green as a natural source of value added compounds, its lipophilic extracts were studied before and after alkaline hydrolysis using gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC-MS). Much research has focused on the aquaculture potential of several Pavlova species[11,12,13], only specific algal compounds (e.g. fatty acids and sterols) have been analyzed to determine their biological activity, nutritional value and applicability[14]. This target analysis restricts the detection of compounds that are present in low quantities which, in turn, makes difficult the inclusion of unknowns in microalgal extract analysis[15]. From the classes of widespread natural products, the composition of long-chain aliphatic alcohols (LC-alcohols), steryl glycosides and monoglycerides in microalgae are poorly studied[9]
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