Marine prebiotics: Polysaccharides and oligosaccharides obtained by using microbial enzymes.

Utilization of marine algae has increased considerably over the past decades, since biodiversity within brown, red and green marine algae offers possibilities of finding a variety of bioactive compounds. Marine algae are rich sources of dietary fibre. The remarkable positive effects of seaweed dietary fibre on human body are related to their prebiotic activity over the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microbiota. However, dietary modulation of microorganisms present in GIT can be influenced by different factors such as type and source of the dietary fibre, their molecular weight, type of extraction and purification methods employed, composition and modification of polysaccharide and oligosaccharide. This review will demonstrate evidence that polysaccharides and oligosaccharides from marine algae can be used as prebiotics, emphasizing their use in human health, their application as food and other possible applications. Furthermore, an important approach of microbial enzymes employment during extraction, modification or production of those prebiotics is highlighted.

Micelas reversas de lecitina de soja: uma alternativa para purificação de proteínas / Soybean lecithin reversed micelles: an alternative for protein purification

No presente trabalho, estudaram-se os efeitos de diversos parâmetros sobre a extração das proteínas caseína e albumina de soro bovino empregando micelas reversas de lecitina de soja. Independentemente da condição empregada, a extração da albumina apresentou baixo rendimento (variando de 0 por cento a 4 por cento, aproximadamente), resultado de um significativo efeito de exclusão por tamanho. Com relação à caseína, o rendimento da extração aumentou 23 vezes com o aumento do tempo de agitação, ou seja, com o maior tempo de contato entre a proteína e o sistema de micelas reversas. A adição de 1-hexanol ao sistema, usado como co-solvente, foi efetiva, aumentando a solubilização da caseína em 36 por cento, sendo os rendimentos da extração desta proteína muito influenciados pelo pH. Os valores máximos de eficiência obtidos foram de 20 por cento em pH 7,9, 80 por cento em pH 5,4 e 100 por cento em pH 5,0 (pH próximo ao pI da proteína).

In this work, the effect of different parameters for extraction of casein and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were studied. Such proteins were extracted by soybean lecithin reversed micelles. BSA extraction was not effective, independent of the extraction conditions employed. Owing to its molar mass, the effect of exclusion by size was clearly observed. The casein extraction yield increased about 23-fold as a function of agitation time. In other words, the increase occurred by using higher contact time between protein and reversed micelles. The use of hexanol as a co-solvent was effective, and increased casein extraction to 36 percent. The extraction values were strongly influenced by pH, and the high extraction yield was obtained under the following conditions: 20 percent at pH 7.9, 80 percent at pH 5.4 e 100 percent at pH 5.0 (close to casein isoelectrical point).