Worldwide, marine algae are known to produce a wide variety of bioactive secondary metabolites and several compounds have been derived from them for the prospective development of novel drugs by the pharmaceutical industry. In this context, Ulva lactuca, Enteromorpha intestinales, and Cladophora vagabunda, isolated from Black Sea coastal waters of Romania, were evaluated for their potential for bioactivity. Extracts of the algae selected for the study were prepared using ethanol. The study presents original results concerning the total phenolic content (TPC), determined by the spectrometric method (Folin-Ciocalteu method) and the individual phenols from each species of seaweed studied were identified by HPLC-DAD techniques. Total antioxidant activity (ACL) was studied by photochemiluminescence method, and antibacterial activity was studied on two strains of bacteria, Escherichia coli ATCC 10536 - gram-negative and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538P - gram-positive. Results indicated that the highest total phenolic content was obtained for Cladophora vagabunda (325.8 mg/100 g f.w.), followed by Ulva lactuca (285.5 mg/100 g f.w.) and the lowest rate was registered by Enteromorpha intestinalis (268.8 mg/100 g f.w.). Through HPLC-DAD techniques, 6 individual phenolic compounds were identified in all analyzed seaweeds. In addition, two other phenolic compounds were identified in lower concentrations in Ulva lactuca, but only one phenolic compound in Enteromorpha intestinalis. The results of this study show that there is a strong correlation between antioxidant activity (ACL), antibacterial activity and total phenolic content (TPC). Antioxidant activity shows the same order as total phenolic content (TPC): Cladophora vagabunda (64.15 nmol/g sample) followed by Ulva lactuca (22.8 nmol/g sample) and Enteromorpha intestinalis (10.4 nmol/g sample). The antibacterial activity recorded in all green seaweeds shows that the inhibition sites are higher on Escherichia coli compared to Staphylococcus aureus.

In the last years, health care professionals faced with an increasing number of patients suffering from wounds, burns and bedsores difficult to treat and heal. During the wound healing process, the dressing protects the injured area and contributes to the recovery of dermal and epidermal tissues. Because their biocompatibility, biodegradability and similarity to macromolecules recognized by the human body, some natural polymers such as polysaccharides (alginates, chitin, chitosan), proteoglycans and proteins (collagen, gelatin, fibrin) are extensively are used in wounds and burns management. The study presents a research of new semi-solid formulations of bio-composites based on chitosan extracted from the stone crab Pachygrapsus Mormoratus found on the Black Sea shores. The bio-composites were obtained from natural polymeric compounds, Chitosan (CT), hyaluronic acid (HA) and lanolin(L), to which silver sulfadiazine (S), was added. Several semi-solid formulations have been performed for which the antimicrobial activity on gram-positive and gram-negative germ cultures and the rheological behavior was studied. The bio-composites that were obtained provide an optimal micro-environment for cell proliferation, migration and differentiation, due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, peculiar structure and good antimicrobial activity.

Seaweeds are widely used in the life science as source of compounds with diverse structural forms and biological activities, therefore, potential source of new antioxidant activity. The algae of the Black Sea have not been adequately explored for their potential as a source of bioactive substances. In this context, Brown algae Cystoseira barbata isolated from Black Sea coastal waters of Romania, were evaluated for their bioactivity potential. The results from Cystoseira barbata were obtained: for total phenolic content obtained in ethanolic extracts (TPC): 385.6 � 1.85 mg GAE/100 g f.w. Phenolic Acids quantified by HPLC-DAD from hydroethanolic extract of Cystoseira barbata from Black Sea was 80.14% from total phenolic content identified. We showed that Cystoseira barbata from the Romanian shore of the Black Sea contains vanillic acid in highest quantity (99.5�0.08 mg/100 g f.w.), followed by benzoic acid (65.7�0.06 mg/100 g f.w.) and feluric acid (54.5�0.01 mg/100 g f.w.). The smallest quantities were for gallic acid (3.5�0.03 mg/100 g f.w.), pyrogallol acid (4.2�0.05 mg/100 g f.w.) and 4-amino-benzoic acid (5.2�0.09 mg/100 g f.w.). Cystoseira barbata has a total content of large phenols and also has strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. Antioxidant activity (ACL) was studied using DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power. The extracts containing high levels of total phenolic content were also potent DPPH radical scavengers. The IC50 (�g/mL) for Cystoseira barbata in methanolic extract was 942.92� 2.56 �g/mL. High absorbance obtained from reducing power assay indicates high reducing power, measured values of absorbance varied from 0.0901 at 0.9223.

Collagen hydrolysers are three-dimensional polymeric materials with limited cross-linking and high hydrophilicity, having multiple medical applications. The most used collagen is the one extracted from bovine skin, which is now the industrial source of collagen. Due to the outbreak of some threatening diseases such as BSE, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, foot-and-mouth disease, researchers have sought a safer alternative to collagen. This was the marine resource, which offered multiple opportunities to capitalize on clean sea-water raw material. This paper presents a comparative study of the physico-chemical properties of collagen hydrogels derived from collagen obtained from calf and skin from the Black Sea. Physico-chemical and spectrophotometric analyzes were performed to determine the structure. Studies have been conducted to analyze rheological behavior, antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity. The total antioxidant capacity (ACL) is higher for collagen mixtures with 40% ethyl alcohol and shows higher values for fish collagen compared to calf collagen. Antimicrobial analysis shows that all collagen hydrogels show antimicrobial activity, both gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538P) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 10536), which increases with increasing collagen concentrations.

The red algae Ceramium rubrum, Div. Rhodophyta, Subcl. Florideophycidae, Fam. Ceramiaceae (Huds. ) grows abundantly and spontaneously in the Black Sea. Rhodophyta are the source to produce agar-agar and carrageen used to improve the chemical and physical characteristics of several industrial products and in the production of tissue culture media. The harvesting was made by the Romanian Institute for Marine Research and Development from an unpolluted area in the Black Sea. Dry algae Ceramium rubrum were analyzed in the first step in order to identify active principles which are important to human health and then by IR and UV-VIS spectrometry, Atomic absorption spectrometry for heavy metals and pesticides, and finally HPLC. The paper reports the correlated results of UV-VIS spectrometry and HPLC analysis of algae extract versuscarotene, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b standards. A chromatographic method was applied for optimum separation ofcarotene, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b standards with Photodiode Array and Fluorescence Detectors. In the paper we present too, a comparative study regarding antioxidative capacity of these macrophyte algae, Ceramium rubrum, specifife for Romanian Black Sea Coast. For antioxidant capacity of algae extracts, chemiluminescence method had been used. The results confirm that could be correlated with the high level antioxidant activity of these species, which relieve the possibility to enlarge the options to use these natural vegetal resources from Black Sea Coast in different degenerative diseases therapy.