Abstract
In the last few decades, attention on new natural antimicrobial compounds has arisen due to a change in consumer preferences and the increase in the number of resistant microorganisms. Macroalgae play a special role in the pursuit of new active molecules as they have been traditionally consumed and are known for their chemical and nutritional composition and their biological properties, including antimicrobial activity. Among the bioactive molecules of algae, proteins and peptides, polysaccharides, polyphenols, polyunsaturated fatty acids and pigments can be highlighted. However, for the complete obtaining and incorporation of these molecules, it is essential to achieve easy, profitable and sustainable recovery of these compounds. For this purpose, novel liquid–liquid and solid–liquid extraction techniques have been studied, such as supercritical, ultrasound, microwave, enzymatic, high pressure, accelerated solvent and intensity pulsed electric fields extraction techniques. Moreover, different applications have been proposed for these compounds, such as preservatives in the food or cosmetic industries, as antibiotics in the pharmaceutical industry, as antibiofilm, antifouling, coating in active packaging, prebiotics or in nanoparticles. This review presents the main antimicrobial potential of macroalgae, their specific bioactive compounds and novel green extraction technologies to efficiently extract them, with emphasis on the antibacterial and antifungal data and their applications.
Highlights
70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by marine waterand the marine world is home to a huge diversity of species
NPs based on four different algae (U. faciata, P. capillacae, J. rubens and C. sinusa) could reduce the bacterial growth of S. aureus and E. coli on textile cotton fabrics
Future perspectives should focus on the development of further in vivo and toxicological studies and in the transformation of the whole process into a cost-effective and reproducible alternative which goes through the improvement, further study and optimization of the extraction techniques of the bioactive compounds responsible for the antimicrobial activity [239,240]
Summary
70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by marine waterand the marine world is home to a huge diversity of species. In sight of the variety of active molecules reported in algae, their extracts have been submitted to different bioactivity tests showing plenty of biological properties, such as: anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anticancer, neuroprotective and photoprotective, among others [13,14,15] Regarding all these aspects, macroalgae may be considered as a source of active molecules with biological properties and with a huge potential for application in food, cosmetic and pharmacological industries, because of their composition and for their diversity and the availability of resources [16,17,18].
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