Browsing by Author "Neugebauer, Agnieszka"
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- An Insight into Sargassum muticum Cytoprotective Mechanisms against Oxidative Stress on a Human Cell In Vitro ModelPublication . Pinteus, Susete; Lemos, Marco; Silva, Joana; Alves, Celso; Neugebauer, Agnieszka; Freitas, Rafaela; Duarte, Adriana; Pedrosa, RuiSargassum muticum is a brown seaweed with strong potential to be used as a functional food ingredient, mainly due to its antioxidant properties. It is widely used in traditional oriental medicine for the treatment of numerous diseases. Nevertheless, few studies have been conducted to add scientific evidence on its effects as well as on the mechanisms of action involved. In this work, the human cell line MCF-7 was used as an in vitro cellular model to evaluate the capability of Sargassum muticum enriched fractions to protect cells on an oxidative stress condition. The concentration of the bioactive compounds was obtained by vacuum liquid chromatography applied on methanol (M) and 1:1 methanol:dichloromethane (MD) crude extracts, resulting in seven enriched fractions from the M extraction (MF2-MF8), and eight fractions from the MD extraction (MDF1-MDF8). All fractions were tested for cytotoxic properties on MCF-7 cells and the nontoxic ones were tested for their capacity to blunt the damaging effects of hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress. The nontoxic effects were also confirmed in 3T3 fibroblast cells as a nontumor cell line. The antioxidant potential of each fraction, as well as changes in the cell's real-time hydrogen peroxide production, in the mitochondrial membrane potential, and in Caspase-9 activity were evaluated. The results suggest that the protective effects evidenced by S. muticum can be related with the inhibition of hydrogen peroxide production and the inhibition of Caspase-9 activity.
- Marine invasive macroalgae: Turning a real threat into a major opportunity - the biotechnological potential of Sargassum muticum and Asparagopsis armataPublication . Pinteus, Susete; Lemos, Marco F.L.; Alves, Celso; Neugebauer, Agnieszka; Silva, Joana; Thomas, Olivier P.; Botana, Luis M.; Gaspar, Helena; Pedrosa, RuiMarine invasive species are widely recognized as one of the worst threats to marine ecosystems integrity, un-balancing native communities, which may lead to paramount ecological and economic impacts. Within invasiveseaweeds, Sargassum muticum and Asparagopsis armata are recognized as successful invaders in Europe andAmerica. Despite several attempts to control the spread of marine invaders, until now, all have proven to beelusive, and therefore, alternative strategies should be embraced.Worldwide, seaweeds have been increasingly explored due to their ability to produce bioactive compounds.However, one of the main problems associated with the production/extraction of these bioactive compounds fornew products development, is the source availability and the potential negative environmental consequences ofthis exploitation.Within this framework, the use of invasive species to obtain natural bioactive compounds presents us with atwo-folded opportunity - high availability of the biological material for the extraction of unique bioactivecompounds for new products development, and through specimen collection, mitigating negative effects causedby alien species, contributing for ecosystem integrity and sustainability.Over the last decades, the brown seaweed S. muticum and the red A. armata have been studied all over theworld for their capacity to produce bioactive compounds, with main results pointing towards their high potentialas producers of antioxidant, antifouling, antimicrobial, and antitumor compounds.The present review summarizes the biotechnological potential of S. muticum and A. armata as producers ofbioactive compounds, while addressing the potential use of global threats as important blue growth pawns.