Chemical composition of cultivated seaweed Ulva clathrata (Roth) C. Agardh

Marine-Based Nutraceuticals: An Innovative Trend in the Food and Supplement Industries

Recent trends in functional foods and supplements have demonstrated that bioactive molecules play a major therapeutic role in human disease. Nutritionists and biomedical and food scientists are working together to discover new bioactive molecules that have increased potency and therapeutic benefits. Marine life constitutes almost 80% of the world biota with thousands of bioactive compounds and secondary metabolites derived from marine invertebrates such as tunicates, sponges, molluscs, bryozoans, sea slugs and many other marine organisms. These bioactive molecules and secondary metabolites possess antibiotic, antiparasitic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antifibrotic and anticancer activities. They are also inhibitors or activators of critical enzymes and transcription factors, competitors of transporters and sequestrants that modulate various physiological pathways. The current review summaries the widely available marine-based nutraceuticals and recent research carried out for the purposes of isolation, identification and characterization of marine-derived bioactive compounds with various therapeutic potentials.

Sulphated polysaccharides from Ulva clathrata and Cladosiphon okamuranus seaweeds both inhibit viral attachment/entry and cell-cell fusion, in NDV infection

Sulphated polysaccharides (SP) extracted from seaweeds have antiviral properties and are much less cytotoxic than conventional drugs, but little is known about their mode of action. Combination antiviral chemotherapy may offer advantages over single agent therapy, increasing efficiency, potency and delaying the emergence of resistant virus. The paramyxoviridae family includes pathogens causing morbidity and mortality worldwide in humans and animals, such as the Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) in poultry. This study aims at determining the antiviral activity and mechanism of action in vitro of an ulvan (SP from the green seaweed Ulva clathrata), and of its mixture with a fucoidan (SP from Cladosiphon okamuranus), against La Sota NDV strain. The ulvan antiviral activity was tested using syncytia formation, exhibiting an IC50 of 0.1 μg/mL; ulvan had a better anti cell-cell spread effect than that previously shown for fucoidan, and inhibited cell-cell fusion via a direct effect on the F0 protein, but did not show any virucidal effect. The mixture of ulvan and fucoidan showed a greater anti-spread effect than SPs alone, but ulvan antagonizes the effect of fucoidan on the viral attachment/entry. Both SPs may be promising antivirals against paramyxovirus infection but their mixture has no clear synergistic advantage.

Seaweed minerals as nutraceuticals

Seaweed is known as an abundant source of minerals. Mineral composition of seaweed is very changeable because of many exogenous and endogenous factors and differs also within the same species. Principally, seaweed is an excellent source of some essential elements. Mainly, iron and iodine are in high concentration. Seaweeds could be prospective as functional foods and also producers of mineral nutraceuticals.