Pressurized liquid extraction of Neochloris oleoabundans for the recovery of bioactive carotenoids with anti-proliferative activity against human colon cancer cells

Abstract

In recent years, the green microalgae Neochloris oleoabundans have demonstrated to be an interesting natural source of carotenoids that could be used as potential food additive. In this work, different N. oleoabundans extracts obtained by pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) have been analyzed in depth to evaluate the influence of different culture conditions (effect of nitrogen, light intensity or carbon supplied) not only on the total carotenoid content but also on the carotenoid composition produced by these microalgae. Regardless of the cultivation conditions, lutein and carotenoid monoesters were the most abundant carotenoids representing more than 60% of the total content in all extracts. Afterwards, the effect of the different N. oleoabundans extracts and the dose-effect of the most potent algae extracts (namely, N9, PS and CO (-)) on the proliferation of human colon cancer cells lines (HT-29 and SW480) and a cell line established from a primary colon cancer cell culture (HGUE-C-1) were evaluated by an MTT assay whereas a stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to get additional evidences on the relationship between carotenoid content and the antiproliferative activity. Results revealed that, as a general trend, those extracts with high total carotenoid content showed comparably antiproliferative activity being possible to establish a high correlation between the cell proliferation values and the carotenoid constituents. Monoesters showed the highest contribution to cell proliferation inhibition whereas lutein and violaxanthin showed negative correlation and diesters and zeaxanthin showed a positive significant contribution to cell proliferation.

Pulsed electric field‐assisted extraction of valuable compounds from microorganisms

“…Similarly, pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) uses conventional solvents at controlled temperatures under high pressure, thereby making it an interesting alternative process to extract antioxidant carotenoids from microalgae (Jaime et al, 2010; Macías-Sanchez, Mantell, Rodriguez, de la Ossa, Lubián, & Montero, 2009;Plaza et al, 2012). When compared to traditional solvent extraction, PLE shows a reduction in extraction time from several hours to minutes, and a decrease in total organic solvent consumption; however, extraction yields are far lower than those reported using other methods (Castro-Puyana et al, 2017;Gilbert-López et al, 2017;Herrero, Cifuentes, & Ibañez, 2006).…”

Effect of Organic Solvents on Microalgae Growth, Metabolism and Industrial Bioproduct Extraction: A Review

“…Optimization of cultivation conditions to favour the accumulation of target products in microalgae cells before extraction process, can be a method to improve the extraction yield [ 186 ]. Moreover, cultivation conditions [ 187 ] and extraction process parameters [ 188 ], including solvent type [ 159 ], can also influence comprosition of obtained extracts [ 159 , 187 , 188 ], that should find applications not only in refinery, but also in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry [ 185 , 188 ].…”

Biotechnological Production of Carotenoids and Their Applications in Food and Pharmaceutical Products

“…Inhibition of cell proliferation of colon cancer cells by the use of Neochloris oleoabundans carotenoids was observed, enabling its use as a functional food additive or nutraceutical with potential for the prevention of colon cancer [82]. Beta-carotene, astaxanthin, and capsanthin demonstrated antiproliferative effects on leukemic K562 cells [83].…”