A Biorefinery Approach to the Biomass of the Seaweed Undaria pinnatifida (Harvey Suringar, 1873): Obtaining Phlorotannins-Enriched Extracts for Wound Healing

Abstract

Brown seaweeds are recognized sources of compounds with a wide range of properties and applications. Within these compounds, phlorotannins are known to possess several bioactivities (e.g., antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial) with potential to improve wound healing. To obtain phlorotannins enriched extracts from Undaria pinnatifida, a biorefinery was set using low-cost industry-friendly methodologies, such as sequential solid–liquid extraction and liquid–liquid extraction. The obtained extracts were screened for their antioxidant and antimicrobial activity against five common wound pathogens and for their anti-inflammatory potential. The ethanolic wash fraction (wE100) had the highest antioxidant activity (114.61 ± 10.04 mmol·mg−1 extract by Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 6.56 ± 1.13 mM eq. Fe II·mg−1 extract by and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP)), acting efficiently against Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria, and showing a nitric oxide production inhibition over 47% when used at 0.01 µg·mL−1. NMR and FTIR chemical characterization suggested that phlorotannins are present. Obtained fraction wE100 proved to be a promising candidate for further inclusion as wound healing agents, while the remaining fractions analyzed are potential sources for other biotechnological applications, giving emphasis to a biorefinery and circular economy framework to add value to this seaweed and the industry.

Microwave hydrothermal processing of Undaria pinnatifida for bioactive peptides

“…Lower intensity signals found at 890 (cm − 1 ) and 813 (cm − 1 ) were related to the vibration of the α-L-guluronic asymmetric ring and the β-mannuronic acid, respectively. These FTIR-ATR spectra agrees with those reported for the ground seaweed U. pinnatifida (Pereira and Ribeiro-Claro, 2014), the extracted alginate from the same seaweed (Zhang et al, 2020) and U. pinnatifida extracts using optimized conventional sequential extraction treatments (n-hexane, water:acetic acid (99:1), ethanol:water (1:1) or ethanol) (Ferreira et al, 2021).…”

Biomolecules from Macroalgae—Nutritional Profile and Bioactives for Novel Food Product Development

“…Fermentation is a well-established method of food preservation and processing that has been employed for centuries by humans. Seaweed fermentation can be used as a technology to develop pharmaceuticals and health supplements, as well as medical products [133,134]. Fermentation is an energy-efficient process and therefore more environmentally sustainable than other processing methods such as chemical extraction, which can produce a lot of waste [132].…”

Composite Matrixes for Use in Traumatology and Regenerative Medicine

“…Данные сетки обеспечивали условия, достаточные для адгезии и пролиферации фибробластов человека, определенной по метаболической активности в реазуриновой пробе. При этом добавление экстракта U. pinnatifida не приводило к снижению пролиферации фибробластов, однако была установлена обратная зависимость между пролиферацией клеток и плотностью сетки [14].…”