ABSTRACT
Seaweeds have become the focus of experts in recent years due to their biological characteristics and the variety of uses they have for both humans and animals. Biochemical composition, amino acids, fatty acids, and phenolic components were analyzed to explore the nutritive value of Gracilariopsis longissima, Padina tetrastromatica, and Ulva intestinalis from the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh coast. Proximate composition and mineral content were determined according to the AOAC method. The high-performance liquid chromatography amino acid analysis system was used for the amino acid analysis and the fatty acid profile of the extracted oils was assessed as their methyl esters. The Folin-Ciocalteu technique was used to estimate the phenolic content and the aluminum chloride colorimetric technique was used to calculate the total flavonoid content. The three different species of seaweed had significantly different proximate compositions (P < 0.05), with G. longissima having the highest protein content. Except for sulfur, the mineral contents were likewise considerably higher (P < 0.05) in G. longissima. Although the amounts of the essential amino acids were greater than 50 % of the total amino acids in the three studied seaweed species, the total amino acid composition of these three species differed significantly (P < 0.05). The findings indicated that lipid levels were low in all the assessed species, but unsaturated fatty acid levels were high, with G. longissima exhibiting the highest amounts. The results showed that, compared to the other species, G. longissima had a substantially higher (P < 0.05) level of total phenolic and flavonoid content. The three studied seaweed appear to be excellent for nutrition based on their overall nutritional profiles. However, due to high protein, unsaturated fatty acid, essential amino acid, and total phenolic and flavonoid content, G. longissima is the most promising seaweed that will be helpful for pharmaceutical and multifunctional food applications.
ABSTRACT
Seaweeds are now recognized as a treasure of bioactive compounds. However, the bioactivity of seaweed originating in Bangladesh is still unexplored. So, this study was designed to explore the secondary metabolites and antioxidant activities of solvent extracts of Padina tetrastromatica and Gracilaria tenuistipitata. Phytochemical screening and FTIR spectra confirm the diverse type of bioactive compounds. Antioxidant activity of extracts were evaluated by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2, 2-Azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), reducing power (RP), phosphomolybdenum, hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide (NO) scavenging assays. Here, methanolic extract of P. tetrastromatica showed highest amount of total phenolic content (85.61 mg of GA/g), total flavonoid content (41.77 mg of quercetin/g), DPPH (77.07%), ABTS (77.65%), RP (53.24 mg AAE/g), phosphomolybdenum (31.58 mg AAE/g), hydrogen peroxide (67.89%) and NO (70.64%) assays compared to its methanolic extracts of G. tenuistipitata. This study concluded that methanol as a solvent extract of brown seaweed (P. tetrastromatica) exhibited bioactivity and antioxidant potentiality which will be useful for pharmacological as well as in functional food application.
