Antioxidant Activity Correlated with Chlorophyll Pigments and Magnesium Content of Some Green Seaweeds

Abstract

The complex valorification of seaweed biomass represents a highly important resource for the pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetic industry, supplying raw material for the extraction of bioactive substances such as, polysaccharides, vitamins, sterols, aminoacids, polyphenols and minerals. Marine algae represent an indefatigability resource of therapeutic active principles for diseases treatment of magnesium deficiency. The presence of chlorophyll pigments in the green algae confirms the magnesium existence, as central element in molecular structures. The main green algae, as Ulva lactuca and Enteromorpha intestinalis present on the Romanian Black Sea Coast, belong to Chlorophyta sp. In this paper we present a study of antioxidant activity correlated with magnesium content and chlorophyll pigments of the green algae Enteromorpha intestinalis and Ulva rigida (syn. Ulva lactuca) hydroalcoholic extracts. For chlorophyll pigments determination, the UV-Vis spectrometry was used. Magnesium content had been determined by absorption atomic spectrometry method, using HR-CS- AAS ContraA 700 apparatus, Analytik Jena and for total antioxidant capacity of green algae extracts, the photochemiluminescence method had been applied, using Photochem Analytik Jena apparatus. The comparative studies on two marine green algae extracts confirm the high magnesium content correlated with a high level of total antioxidant capacity for both species. The results obtained emphasize the possibility to enlarge the options to use these natural vegetal resources from Black Sea Coast, in different degenerative diseases therapy.