Seaweeds as Nutraceutical Elements and Drugs for Diabetes Mellitus: Future Perspectives.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic condition marked by high blood glucose levels caused by inadequate insulin synthesis or poor insulin use. This condition affects millions of individuals worldwide and is linked to a variety of consequences, including cardiovascular disease, neuropathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy. Diabetes therapy now focuses on controlling blood glucose levels through lifestyle changes, oral medicines, and insulin injections. However, these therapies have limits and may not successfully prevent or treat diabetic problems. Several marine-derived chemicals have previously demonstrated promising findings as possible antidiabetic medicines in preclinical investigations. Peptides, polyphenols, and polysaccharides extracted from seaweeds, sponges, and other marine species are among them. As a result, marine natural products have the potential to be a rich source of innovative multitargeted medications for diabetes prevention and treatment, as well as associated complications. Future research should focus on the chemical variety of marine creatures as well as the mechanisms of action of marine-derived chemicals in order to find new antidiabetic medicines and maximize their therapeutic potential. Based on preclinical investigations, this review focuses on the next step for seaweed applications as potential multitargeted medicines for diabetes, highlighting the bioactivities of seaweeds in the prevention and treatment of this illness.

An Overview to the Health Benefits of Seaweeds Consumption.

Currently, seaweeds are gaining major attention due to the benefits they give to our health. Recent studies demonstrate the high nutritional value of seaweeds and the powerful properties that seaweeds' bioactive compounds provide. Species of class Phaeophyceae, phylum Rhodophyta and Chlorophyta possess unique compounds with several properties that are potential allies of our health, which make them valuable compounds to be involved in biotechnological applications. In this review, the health benefits given by consumption of seaweeds as whole food or by assumption of bioactive compounds trough natural drugs are highlighted. The use of seaweeds in agriculture is also highlighted, as they assure soils and crops free from chemicals; thus, it is advantageous for our health. The addition of seaweed extracts in food, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and industrial companies will enhance the production and consumption/usage of seaweed-based products. Therefore, there is the need to implement the research on seaweeds, with the aim to identify more bioactive compounds, which may assure benefits to human and animal health.

Environmental Impact on Seaweed Phenolic Production and Activity: An Important Step for Compound Exploitation.

Seaweeds are a potential source of bioactive compounds that are useful for biotechnological applications and can be employed in different industrial areas in order to replace synthetic compounds with components of natural origin. Diverse studies demonstrate that there is a solid ground for the exploitation of seaweed bioactive compounds in order to prevent illness and to ensure a better and healthier lifestyle. Among the bioactive algal molecules, phenolic compounds are produced as secondary metabolites with beneficial effects on plants, and also on human beings and animals, due to their inherent bioactive properties, which exert antioxidant, antiviral, and antimicrobial activities. The use of phenolic compounds in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, cosmetics, and food industries may provide outcomes that could enhance human health. Through the production of healthy foods and natural drugs, bioactive compounds from seaweeds can help with the treatment of human diseases. This review aims to highlight the importance of phenolic compounds from seaweeds, the scope of their production in nature and the impact that these compounds can have on human and animal health through nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products.

Ecotoxicity of the lipid-lowering drug bezafibrate on the bioenergetics and lipid metabolism of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum.

Pharmaceutical residues impose a new and emerging threat to the marine environment and its biota. In most countries, ecotoxicity tests are not required for all pharmaceutical residues classes and, even when mandatory, these tests are not performed using marine primary producers such as diatoms. These microalgae are among the most abundant class of primary producers in the marine realm and key players in the marine trophic web. Blood-lipid-lowering agents such as bezafibrate and its derivatives are among the most prescribed drugs and most frequently found human pharmaceuticals in aquatic environments. The present study aims to investigate the bezafibrate ecotoxicity and its effects on primary productivity and lipid metabolism, at environmentally relevant concentrations, using the model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Under controlled conditions, diatom cultures were exposed to bezafibrate at 0, 3, 6, 30 and 60 µg L-1, representing concentrations that can be found in the vicinity of discharges of wastewater treatment plants. High bezafibrate concentrations increased cell density and are suggested to promote a shift from autotrophic to mixotrophic metabolism, with diatoms using light energy generated redox potential to breakdown bezafibrate as carbon source. This was supported by an evident increase in cell density coupled with an impairment of the thylakoid electron transport and consequent photosynthetic activity reduction. In agreement, the concentrations of plastidial marker fatty acids showed negative correlations and Canonical Analysis of Principal coordinates of the relative abundances of fatty acid and photochemical data allowed the separation of controls and cells exposed to bezafibrate with high classification efficiency, namely for photochemical traits, suggesting their validity as suitable biomarkers of bezafibrate exposure. Further evaluations of the occurrence of a metabolic shift in diatoms due to exposure to bezafibrate is paramount, as ultimately it may reduce O2 generation and CO2 fixation in aquatic ecosystems with ensuing consequences for neighboring heterotrophic organisms.