Antioxidant and antibacterial potential of Ulva lactuca species from Romanian Black Sea Coast

Abstract Green algae biomass represents an important natural resource found in marine environments which could offer new applications in the pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical industries. The paper aim was to characterize some fluid extracts of Ulva lactuca L. green macroalgae species, in the Ulvaceae family, from Romanian Black Sea Coast, through physical, chemical and biological methods. For biomedical applications it is important to study how the difference between the marine environment specific conditions, from which they are harvested, can influence the chemical composition of macroalgae. Another important aspect which could affect the bioactive green macroalgae extracts composition, is the influence of applied extraction method. In this way, the less distructive cold maceration method in different solvent concentrations was chosen, according with literature data. The extracts have been studied in order to determine total polyphenols content, total antioxidant capacity by photochemiluminescence method and antibacterial activity. The results emphasized an antioxidant and antibacterial activity of the studied macroalgae extracts, which can be improved in mixture with other bioactive natural substances, in order to obtain new pharmaceutical preparations for topical applications. The valuable obtained results offer the possibility to propose this natural resource for next studies as biomaterial in tissue engineering, wound dressing and drug delivery systems. We consider that Ulva lactuca L. green macroalgae species of Romanian Black Sea Coast, could be an important source of marine bioactive compounds with various uses in the biomedical field.