Abstract
Fucaceae is the most dominant algae family along the intertidal areas of the Northern Hemisphere shorelines, being part of human customs for centuries with applications as a food source either for humans or animals, in agriculture and as remedies in folk medicine. These macroalgae are endowed with several phytochemicals of great industrial interest from which phlorotannins, a class of marine-exclusive polyphenols, have gathered much attention during the last few years due to their numerous possible therapeutic properties. These compounds are very abundant in brown seaweeds such as Fucaceae and have been demonstrated to possess numerous health-promoting properties, including antioxidant effects through scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or enhancement of intracellular antioxidant defenses, antidiabetic properties through their acarbose-like activity, stimulation of adipocytes glucose uptake and protection of β-pancreatic cells against high-glucose oxidative stress; anti-inflammatory effects through inhibition of several pro-inflammatory mediators; antitumor properties by activation of apoptosis on cancerous cells and metastasis inhibition, among others. These multiple health properties render phlorotannins great potential for application in numerous therapeutical approaches. This review addresses the major contribution of phlototannins for the biological effects that have been described for seaweeds from Fucaceae. In addition, the bioavailability of this group of phenolic compounds is discussed.
Highlights
Fucaceae is a family of brown algae containing five subordinate taxa currently recognized, including Ascophyllum, Fucus, Pelvetia, Pelvetiopsis and Silvetia (Figure 1), which dominate the biomass in the intertidal areas of many cold and warm temperate regions in the Northern Hemisphere, being distributed along the Northeast-Atlantic coastlines, from the White Sea to the south of the Canary Islands, and the Northwest-Atlantic, from south Greenland to North Carolina, as well as along the Northeast-Pacific coastline, extending from Alaska to California [1,2]
Because of their high abundance in phlorotannins, most studies involving the bioactivities of these phenolic compounds have been performed mainly with Laminariales, those belonging to the Lessoniaceae family including Ecklonia spp. and Eisenia spp., while other algae families, such as Sargassaceae or Fucaceae, which could represent a good source of these compounds, remain virtually unexploited
A similar study performed with ten species belonging either to green, red or brown algae revealed that the group of Fucaceae (F. vesiculosus, F. serratus and A. nodosum) gave origin to the richest acetone (70%, v:v) extracts in terms of phenolic content, representing 24.2, 24.0 and 15.9 g phloroglucinol equivalents (PE)/100 g extract, respectively
Summary
Fucaceae is a family of brown algae containing five subordinate taxa currently recognized, including Ascophyllum, Fucus, Pelvetia, Pelvetiopsis and Silvetia (Figure 1), which dominate the biomass in the intertidal areas of many cold and warm temperate regions in the Northern Hemisphere, being distributed along the Northeast-Atlantic coastlines, from the White Sea to the south of the Canary Islands, and the Northwest-Atlantic, from south Greenland to North Carolina, as well as along the Northeast-Pacific coastline, extending from Alaska to California [1,2]. Hhaavvee bbeeeenn uusseedd ffoorr ddiissttiinncctt ppuurrppoosseess oovveerr tthheecceenntuturireise.s.NNotoetethtahtatthetsheesseeasweaewedeseadrse aorfetenofktennowknnoaws knelaps, wkehlpic,hwishtihcehniasmtheeofntahme ealokfaltihnee aaslkhaelsinperoadshuecsedprfroodmucberdowfrnomalgbareowanndaulgseade aasndanuaslekdalai sagaennat lfkoarlisoaagpe,npt afpoerrsaonadp,gplaaspsepr raondducgtliaosns, dpryoindgucatniodni,ndlyininegn abnledacinhilningednubrilneagcthhinegeidguhrteinegntthh–eneinigehteteeennththc–ennintuertieeesn[t1h7,c1e8n]t.uLraietser[1in7,t1h8e].1L9a4t0esr, Ain. tnhoed1os9u4m0s,wAa.sntohdeosmumoswt iams pthoertmanotstfeimedpsotortcaknftofreetdhestobcuksifnoerstshoefbaulsgiinneastseopfraoldguincatitoenprinodcuocutniotnrieins countries such as Ireland, Scotland and Norway, which were the principal suppliers of this phycocolloid [18,19] Because this species is relatively costly to harvest and it has a lower. During the last few years, an increasing interest has been paid to these algal metabolites since they have been demonstrated to exert numerous biological activities with potential application in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, among others Because of their high abundance in phlorotannins, most studies involving the bioactivities of these phenolic compounds have been performed mainly with Laminariales, those belonging to the Lessoniaceae family including Ecklonia spp. and Eisenia spp., while other algae families, such as Sargassaceae or Fucaceae, which. S2.trSutrcutuctruereofopf hphlolororotatannnniinnss iissoollaatteeddffrroommaalglgaeaebebleolnogninggintgo tFoucFaucceaacee: a(1e): p(1h)loprohglolurcoignloul;cinol; (2) (d2)ipdhiplohrleotrheothlo; l;(3(3) )hhyyddrrooxxytriffuuhhaalolol;l;(4()4)didfuicfuolc;o(l5; ) (t5r)ifutcrioflu; c(o6)l; te(t6r)afutectorlafAu;co(7l) Ate;tr(a7f)uctoeltrBa;fucol B; (88)) fuccoopphhlloorreeththolo;l; (9()9)fufcuocdoidpihplohrleotrheotlh; ol(;10)(10fu) cfoutrciopthrlioprhetlhoorel thAo;l (A11; ) (1f1u)cofturicpohtlroirpehthlorl etEh;ol E; (12)(1t2r)ifturcifoudcoipdhiplholroertehtohlolAA; ;(1(133))trtriiffuuccootriphhlloorreetthhool lAA; ;(1(41)47) -7h-yhdyrdoxroyxecykeoclk; oaln;dan(1d5)(1p5h)loprhoglolurocignloulcinol C–OC–CO–dCimdiemr.er
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