Bioactive Metabolites from Marine Algae as Potent Pharmacophores against Oxidative Stress-Associated Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review

In addition to cancer and diabetes, inflammatory and ROS-related diseases represent one of the major health problems worldwide. Currently, several synthetic drugs are used to reduce oxidative stress; nevertheless, these approaches often have side effects. Therefore, to overcome these issues, the search for alternative therapies has gained importance in recent times. Natural bioactive compounds have represented, and they still do, an important source of drugs with high therapeutic efficacy. In the “synthetic” era, terrestrial and aquatic photosynthetic organisms have been shown to be an essential source of natural compounds, some of which might play a leading role in pharmaceutical drug development. Marine organisms constitute nearly half of the worldwide biodiversity. In the marine environment, algae, seaweeds, and seagrasses are the first reported sources of marine natural products for discovering novel pharmacophores. The algal bioactive compounds are a potential source of novel antioxidant and anticancer (through modulation of the cell cycle, metastasis, and apoptosis) compounds. Secondary metabolites in marine Algae, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, and tannins, could have great therapeutic implications against several diseases. In this context, this review focuses on the diversity of functional compounds extracted from algae and their potential beneficial effects in fighting cancer, diabetes, and inflammatory diseases.     

Cytotoxic Mechanism of Sphaerodactylomelol,an Uncommon Bromoditerpene Isolated from Sphaerococcus coronopifolius

Marine natural products have exhibited uncommon chemical structures with relevant antitumor properties highlighting their potential to inspire the development of new anticancer agents. The goal of this work was to study the antitumor activities of the brominated diterpene sphaerodactylomelol, a rare example of the dactylomelane family. Cytotoxicity (10–100 µM; 24 h) was evaluated on tumor cells (A549, CACO-2, HCT-15, MCF-7, NCI-H226, PC-3, SH-SY5Y, SK-ML-28) and the effects estimated by MTT assay. Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) levels and apoptosis biomarkers (membrane translocation of phosphatidylserine, depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential, Caspase-9 activity, and DNA condensation and/or fragmentation) were studied in the breast adenocarcinoma cellular model (MCF-7) and its genotoxicity on mouse fibroblasts (L929). Sphaerodactylomelol displayed an IC₅₀ range between 33.04 and 89.41 µM without selective activity for a specific tumor tissue. The cells’ viability decrease was accompanied by an increase on H₂O₂ production, a depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and an increase of Caspase-9 activity and DNA fragmentation. However, the DNA damage studies in L929 non-malignant cell line suggested that this compound is not genotoxic for normal fibroblasts. Overall, the results suggest that the cytotoxicity of sphaerodactylomelol seems to be mediated by an increase of H₂O₂ levels and downstream apoptosis.     

A combinatorial approach to the discovery of biocidal six-residue cyclic D,L-alpha-peptides against the bacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and E. coli and the biofouling algae Ulva linza and Navicula perminuta

A combinatorial approach has been used to rapidly identify cyclic d,l-alpha-peptide hexamer sequences that exert biocidal activity towards both methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and E. coli bacteria, as well as the marine algae Ulva linza and Navicula perminuta. Evaluation of the effects against marine algae was facilitated by the development of a reliable, automated assay for toxicity, which should be of general utility for biofouling investigations. While the selective toxicity of cyclic D,L-alpha-peptides towards bacteria has been proven to be highly sensitive to minor changes in amino acid composition, this study demonstrates that this phenomenon extends to eukaryotic species as well, despite their significant structural differences. In performing toxicity assays on both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms in parallel, we have discovered examples of six-residue cyclic D,L-alpha-peptide sequences with either broad-spectrum or highly selective biocidal activities. Sequence [KWFFFH] (underlined amino acid abbreviations represent D-amino acid residues) was found to display 100-fold selectivity towards U. linza, demonstrating that the approach described herein may help lead to the development of new biofouling tools which are not generally toxic to all organisms, but rather specifically target microbial agents of interest.     

An engineer looks at photosynthesis

Little engineering information is available on which to base the design and analysis of photosynthetic microbial systems. Frequencyresponse analysis of algal systems supplements basic data and uncovers fundamental time constants for the rate-controlling steps. An engineering perspective of photosynthesis focuses on these bottleneck steps that most strongly influence process economics.     

Studies on the nutritional requirements of the oil-producing algaBotryococcus braunii

Studies were carried out on the ability of the algaeBotryococcus braunii to grow in the presence of possible carbon sources. Sources examined included compounds for C₁-C₆, as well as the disaccha rides sucrose and lactose. Dividing times were decreased from an av erage of over 1 wk to less than 3 d by addition of the appropriate car bon sources. Examination of the oils produced in the presence and absence of exogenous carbon indicated no differences. However, the total bio mass produced in the presence of a usable carbon source exceeded that produced in the carbon’s absence.     

毛细管电泳-电感耦合等离子体质谱联用测定海藻中铅形态化合物

建立了毛细管电泳( CE)与电感耦合等离子体质谱( ICP-MS)联用技术测定铅离子( PbⅡ)、三甲基铅(TML)和三乙基铅(TEL)3种不同形态铅化合物的方法,以及海藻中不同形态铅化合物的提取技术,实现了海藻中3种铅形态化合物的定性定量分析。结果表明：以70 mmol/L H3BO3-17.5 mmol/L Na2B4O7(pH 8.90)为缓冲溶液,在最佳CE-ICP-MS条件下3种铅化合物20 min内可实现有效分离,重现性较好,迁移时间RSD﹤4%,峰面积的RSD﹤5%;在10~200μg/L 范围内3种铅化合物线性较好,相关系数大于0.90; PbⅡ、TML和TEL的CE-ICP-MS检出限(3S/N,以Pb计)分别为0.091,0.023和0.030μg/L;采用分步提取海藻中Pb元素,提取率高达80%以上,以藻体为基底 PbⅡ, TML 和 TEL 回收率分别为103.6%,95.7%和90.6%;通过检测紫菜和海带中铅含量,结果显示藻体内Pb主要以PbⅡ形式存在。本方法具有简单、高效、样品消耗量少等优点,可为海藻及其它海产品的质量控制提供技术支撑。     

赤潮生物监测荧光成像系统背景光源改进

介绍了一种海洋赤潮生物监测荧光成像系统,该系统的背景光源为海洋赤潮生物监测荧光成像系统的重要组成部分,赤潮生物监测荧光成像系统背景光源选择是否合理将直接影响着藻类成像清晰度,由于各种赤潮藻含有不同的特征纹理,其纹理特征将决定是否能准确识别出藻类并对其进行分类,进而影响到对赤潮的准确预报。为了解决赤潮藻图像的清晰度等问题,作者利用自行设计的荧光成像系统,对不同成像光源的成像效果进行了分析和比较。实验证明,近红外光源可以有效地获得清晰的藻类纹理信息,使得后继的图像处理工作更加容易,从而解决了藻类图像暗黑以至于图像处理起来较为困难等问题。     

Biopolymers from the Mauritian Marine Environment

To the best of our knowledge, the extraction of biopolymers from algae and seaweeds still remains untapped. Prior studies in this area have been limited to a taxonomic survey of algae and seaweeds found around our coastal regions. In this paper, we report on the extraction of biopolymers from Hypnea, Eucheuma and Gracilaria species collected around the coastal regions of Mauritius. Various extraction conditions were used and their effects on yield and structure of the corresponding biopolymers were investigated. The extracted polysaccharides were characterized by a combination of IR, NMR, SEC, viscometry and elemental analyses. These revealed that polysaccharide extracted from Gracilaria is a highly methylated agar and Hypnea/Eucheuma contain κ-carrageenan.     

我国早期的一篇淡水藻类分类学论文及其作者

在国立武昌高等师范学校编辑出版的《博物学会杂志》第一卷到第四卷 (共 4期 )上刊载的毕祖高撰写的“武昌长湖之藻类”一文是迄今所知由中国科学家研究中国标本所正式发表的淡水藻类分类学的第一篇论文 .此篇论文的发表 ,标志着中国淡水藻类的采集、调查研究和发表完全由中国人己独立承担任务并取得成绩的开始 .毕祖高是国立武昌高师博物部 1917年的毕业生 ,发表此文时 ,他是国立武昌高师附属中学的博物学教员 .     

Sulfoquinovosylglyceryl ether,a new group of ether lipids from lake ball-forming green alga Aegagropilopsis moravica (family Pithophoraceae)

Ether lipids are a minor group of glycerolipids but widespread in nature, playing a vital function as membrane lipids, signalling molecules, or buoyant material. We have discovered sulfoquinovosylchimyl alcohol ( 1 ), a sulfonate-substituted glyceroglycolipid, from a lake ball-forming green alga Aegagropilopsis moravica (family Pithophoraceae), with the guidance of antimicrobial activity. The structure of 1 , including absolute configurations of all sterogenic centers, was established by extensive NMR analysis, chemical degradation studies, and finally by total synthesis. Lipid 1 is an ether variant of a lyso-form of sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol, a chloroplast-specific membrane lipid, and thus represents a new lipid class, sulfoquinovosylglyceryl ether. A high occurrence of mobile life form in the family Pithophoraceae and a unique behaviour of chloroplasts reported in closely related Aegagropila linnaei, the famous lake-ball alga, implies a possible role of lipid 1 or its acyl derivatives in ecological adaptation to dysphotic niches.