Special Issue "Marine Carotenoids"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Kazuo Miyashita
Bio-functional Material Chemistry, Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate 041-8611, Japan
E-Mail:
Phone: +81 138 408804
Fax: +81 138 408804

Guest Editor
Dr. Takashi Maoka
Research Institute for Production Development, 15 Shimogamo-morimoto-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-0805, Japan
E-Mail:
Phone: +81 757 811107
Fax: +81 757 917659

Dear Colleagues,

Carotenoids represent a large group of isoprenoid structures with many different structural characteristics and biological activities. They are the most important pigments among those occurring in the nature that are responsible for various colors of different fruits, vegetables and plant parts. Marine carotenoids are also responsible for the color of many fish and shellfish products. However, there has been a relatively little information on the impact of marine carotenoids on human health, while there have been so many papers and reviews on carotenoids from terrestrial origin.

The potential beneficial effects of marine carotenoids have been particularly focused on astaxanthin and fucoxanthin, as they are major marine carotenoids. Both carotenoids show strong antioxidant activity which is attributed to quenching singlet oxygen and scavenging free radicals. The potential role of the carotenoids as dietary antioxidants has been suggested as being one of the main mechanisms for their preventive effects against cancer and inflammatory et al. However, it will be difficult to explain their biological activities only by antioxidant activity. Other mechanisms of action that are independent of their antioxidant properties are also likely to be important. The mechanisms should be based on the regulatory effect of marine carotenoids on particular bio-molecules. This activity of carotenoids is responsible for the characteristic chemical structures which differ depending on the length of the polyene, nature of the end group and various substituent they contain.

This special issue of Marine Drugs is dedicated to marine carotenoids, and will be focused on the benefits of carotenoids to human being. For better understanding the physiological effects of marine carotenoids this issue should involve the most recent developments in presence, analysis, chemistry, and biochemistry of marine caroetnoids. We am very happy and honored to serve as a Guest Editor for this special issue, and would like to invite scientists to report their findings or review the recent literature on various aspects of marine carotenoids. I sincerely hope that this special issue will encourage other scientists to work on the exciting field of marine carotenoids.

Prof. Dr. Kazuo Miyashita
Dr. Takashi Maoka
Guest Editors

Submission

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• marine carotenoids
• distribution
• biosyntheis
• absorption
• metabolism
• bioavailability
• antioxidant activity
• anti-cancer
• prevention of cardiovascular disease
• anti-atherosclerosis
• anti-obesity
• anti-diabetes
• anti-inflammatory