Microalgae as Potential Sources of Bioactive Compounds for Functional Foods and Pharmaceuticals

Microalgae are an untapped source of bioactive compounds with various biotechnological applications. Several species industrially produced and commercialized for the feed or cosmetic industries, however, other applications in functional food pharmaceutical markets can be foreseen. In this study, nine industrial/commercial were evaluated vitro antioxidant, calcium-chelating, anti-tumoral, anti-inflammatory activities. The most promising extracts fractionated yielding several fractions namely, Tetraselmis striata CTP4 activity (99.0 ± 0.8% reduction TNF-? production LPS stimulated human macrophages at 50 µg/mL), Phaeodactylum Tricornutum cytotoxicity towards cancerous cell lines (IC50 = 22.3 1.8 ?g/mL 27.5 1.6 THP-1 HepG2, respectively) Porphyridium sp. Skeletonema good chelating iron, copper calcium 0.047, 0.272, 0.0663 mg/mL IC50 0.055, 0.240, 0.0850 mg/mL, respectively). These chemically characterized by GC–MS after derivatization all, fatty acids degrees unsaturation abundant compounds. Some under study proved to potentially valuable sources metal chelators, anti-tumoral possible application industries.