This review describes the most common methods for recovery of chitin from marine organisms. In depth, both enzymatic and chemical treatments for the step of deproteinization are compared, as well as different conditions for demineralization. The cond...
There is currently much interest in biological active compounds derived from natural resources, especially compounds that can efficiently act on molecular targets, which are involved in various diseases. Astaxanthin (3,3′-dihydroxy-β, β′-carotene-4,4...
Chitosan is a natural polycationic linear polysaccharide derived from chitin. The low solubility of chitosan in neutral and alkaline solution limits its application. Nevertheless, chemical modification into composites or hydrogels brings to it new fu...
Chitosan is widely used in the biomedical field due its chemical and pharmacological properties. However, intake of chitosan results in renal tissue accumulation of chitosan and promotes an increase in calcium excretion. On the other hand, the effect...
Chitin, the second most important natural polymer in the world, and its N-deacetylated derivative chitosan, have been identified as versatile biopolymers for a broad range of applications in medicine, agriculture and the food industry. Two of the ma...
Sulfated polysaccharides and their lower molecular weight oligosaccharide derivatives from marine macroalgae have been shown to possess a variety of biological activities. The present paper will review the recent progress in research on the structura...
Chitosan—one of the natural multifunctional polymers—due to its unique and versatile biological properties is regarded as a useful compound in medical and pharmaceutical technology. Recently, considerable research effort has been made in order to dev...
Sea cucumbers, belonging to the class Holothuroidea, are marine invertebrates, habitually found in the benthic areas and deep seas across the world. They have high commercial value coupled with increasing global production and trade. Sea cucumbers, i...
The marine carotenoid fucoxanthin can be found in marine brown seaweeds, the macroalgae, and diatoms, the microalgae, and has remarkable biological properties. Numerous studies have shown that fucoxanthin has considerable potential and promising appl...
Seaweeds—or marine macroalgae—notably brown seaweeds in the class Phaeophyceae, contain fucoidan. Fucoidan designates a group of certain fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharides (FCSPs) that have a backbone built of (1→3)-linked α-l-fucopyranosyl o...
Saxitoxin (STX) and its 57 analogs are a broad group of natural neurotoxic alkaloids, commonly known as the paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs). PSTs are the causative agents of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) and are mostly associated with marine...
The marine environment represents a relatively untapped source of functional ingredients that can be applied to various aspects of food processing, storage, and fortification. Moreover, numerous marine-based compounds have been identified as having d...
For photosynthesis, phototrophic organisms necessarily synthesize not only chlorophylls but also carotenoids. Many kinds of carotenoids are found in algae and, recently, taxonomic studies of algae have been developed. In this review, the relationship...
As the human population increases there is an increasing reliance on aquaculture to supply a safe, reliable, and economic supply of food. Although food production is essential for a healthy population, an increasing threat to global human health is a...
Alginate is a hydrocolloid from algae, specifically brown algae, which is a group that includes many of the seaweeds, like kelps and an extracellular polymer of some bacteria. Sodium alginate is one of the best-known members of the hydrogel group. Th...
Bone contains considerable amounts of minerals and proteins. Hydroxyapatite [Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2] is one of the most stable forms of calcium phosphate and it occurs in bones as major component (60 to 65%), along with other materials including collagen, c...
Chitin and chitosan are naturally-occurring compounds that have potential in agriculture with regard to controlling plant diseases. These molecules were shown to display toxicity and inhibit fungal growth and development. They were reported to be act...
There is a current tendency towards bioactive natural products with applications in various industries, such as pharmaceutical, biomedical, cosmetics and food. This has put some emphasis in research on marine organisms, including macroalgae and micro...
Microalgae represent a potential source of renewable nutrition and there is growing interest in algae-based dietary supplements in the form of whole biomass, e.g., Chlorella and Arthrospira, or purified extracts containing omega-3 fatty acids and car...
Marine microalgae constitute a natural source of a variety of drugs for pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic applications—which encompass carotenoids, among others. A growing body of experimental evidence has confirmed that these compounds can play impo...
Seaweed produces metabolites aiding in the protection against different environmental stresses. These compounds show antiviral, antiprotozoal, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. Macroalgae can be cultured in high volumes and would represent an...
In the last decades, the discovery of metabolites from marine resources showing biological activity has increased significantly. Among marine resources, seaweed is a valuable source of structurally diverse bioactive compounds. The cell walls of marin...
The enormous variety of polysaccharides that can be extracted from marine plants and animal organisms or produced by marine bacteria means that the field of marine polysaccharides is constantly evolving. Recent advances in biological techniques allow...
Marine microalgae have been used for a long time as food for humans, such as Arthrospira (formerly, Spirulina), and for animals in aquaculture. The biomass of these microalgae and the compounds they produce have been shown to possess several biologic...
Chitooligosaccharides (CHOS) are homo- or heterooligomers of N-acetylglucosamine and D-glucosamine. CHOS can be produced using chitin or chitosan as a starting material, using enzymatic conversions, chemical methods or combinations thereof. Productio...
Following the growth of the global population and the subsequent rapid increase in urbanization and industrialization, the fisheries and aquaculture production has seen a massive increase driven mainly by the development of fishing technologies. Acco...
The marine environment harbors a number of macro and micro organisms that have developed unique metabolic abilities to ensure their survival in diverse and hostile habitats, resulting in the biosynthesis of an array of secondary metabolites with spec...
Cancer remains one of the most lethal diseases worldwide. There is an urgent need for new drugs with novel modes of action and thus considerable research has been conducted for new anticancer drugs from natural sources, especially plants, microbes an...
Chitosan has been the subject of interest for its use as a polymeric drug carrier material in dosage form design due to its appealing properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, low toxicity and relatively low production cost from abundant...
The cyanobacteria or “blue-green algae”, as they are commonly termed, comprise a diverse group of oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria that inhabit a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial environments, and display incredible morphological diversity. Many...
Seaweeds have attracted high interest in recent years due to their chemical and bioactive properties to find new molecules with valuable applications for humankind. Phenolic compounds are the group of metabolites with the most structural variation an...
The marine acid polysaccharide fucoidan has attracted attention from both the food and pharmaceutical industries due to its promising therapeutic effects. Fucoidan is a polysaccharide that mainly consists of L-fucose and sulphate groups. Its excellen...
Chitosan has received much attention as a functional biopolymer for diverse applications, especially in pharmaceutics and medicine. Our recent efforts focused on the chemical and biological modification of chitosan in order to increase its solubility...
In recent decades, environmental pollution has emerged as a core issue, around the globe, rendering it of fundamental concern to eco-toxicologists, environmental biologists, eco-chemists, pathologists, and researchers from other fields. The dissoluti...
Chitosan is considered to be one of the most promising and applicable materials in adsorption applications. The existence of amino and hydroxyl groups in its molecules contributes to many possible adsorption interactions between chitosan and pollutan...
Carotenoids are natural pigments that play pivotal roles in many physiological functions. The characteristics of carotenoids, their effects on health, and the cosmetic benefits of their usage have been under investigation for a long time; however, mo...
Seaweeds have been used since ancient times as food, mainly by Asian countries, while in Western countries, their main application has been as gelling agents and colloids for the food, pharmaceuticals, and the cosmetic industry. Seaweeds are a good s...
This study aimed at investigating the potential of microalgae species grown on industrial waste water as a new source of natural antioxidants. Six microalgae from different classes, including Phaeodactylum sp. (Bacillariophyceae), Nannochloropsis sp....
Microalgae produce a variety of compounds that are beneficial to human and animal health. Among these compounds are carotenoids, which are microalgal pigments with unique antioxidant and coloring properties. The objective of this review is to evaluat...
A greater insight on the control of the interactions between microalgae and other microorganisms, particularly bacteria, should be useful for enhancing the efficiency of microalgal biomass production and associated valuable compounds. Little attentio...
Marine algae have attracted a great deal of interest as excellent sources of nutrients. Polysaccharides are the main components in marine algae, hence a great deal of attention has been directed at isolation and characterization of marine algae polys...
The subject of this review is the biodiversity of marine sponges and associated microbes which have been reported to produce therapeutically important compounds, along with the contextual information on their geographic distribution. Class Demospongi...
Due to the fact that some individuals are allergic to crustaceans, the presumed relationship between allergy and the presence of chitin in crustaceans has been investigated. In vivo, chitin is part of complex structures with other organic and inorgan...
Collagens are the most abundant high molecular weight proteins in both invertebrate and vertebrate organisms, including mammals, and possess mainly a structural role, existing different types according with their specific organization in distinct tis...
Two centuries after the discovery of chitin, it is widely accepted that this biopolymer is an important biomaterial in many aspects. Numerous studies on chitin have focused on its biomedical applications. In this review, various aspects of chitin res...
Alginates are naturally occurring polysaccharides extracted from brown marine algae and bacteria. Being biocompatible, biodegradable, non-toxic and easy to gel, alginates can be processed into various forms, such as hydrogels, microspheres, fibers an...
Peptides are important bioactive natural products which are present in many marine species. These marine peptides have high potential nutraceutical and medicinal values because of their broad spectra of bioactivities. Their antimicrobial, antiviral,...
The marine environment is an untapped source of bioactive compounds. Specifically, marine macroalgae (seaweeds) are rich in polysaccharides that could potentially be exploited as prebiotic functional ingredients for both human and animal health appli...
Climate change with increasing temperature and ocean acidification (OA) poses risks for marine ecosystems. According to Pörtner and Farrell [1], synergistic effects of elevated temperature and CO2-induced OA on energy metabolism will narrow the therm...
Bioactive compounds, e.g., protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, vitamins and minerals, found in commercial form of microalgal biomass (e.g., powder, flour, liquid, oil, tablet, or capsule forms) may play important roles in functional fo...
