Scientists from the Murmansk Institute of Marine Biology (MMBI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences have discovered that the brown algae of the Arctic seas actively accumulate toxins, especially during the fertile period. This was reported to socialbites.ca by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.
In this study, they investigated the properties of Spiral Fucus, a closely related analogue of Bladder Fucus. Plants were collected in three seas: Norway, Barents and Irminger.
Algae reproduce in two ways: sexually and asexually. Asexual reproduction can be accomplished by disintegrating a multicellular organism or by spores. During sexual reproduction, special sex cells are formed in the cells – gametes, which then fuse in pairs to form a zygote.
The Fucus spiral reproduces in the second – sexual way. The accumulation of the main components of fucoidan (fucose and xylose) in the plant varies significantly depending on the seas and the reproductive stage. The maximum values for these carbohydrates were found in algae from the Barents Sea during the fertile period. In addition, the amount of polyphenols and flavonoids in the algae decreases during the fertilization phase, which leads to a decrease in the antioxidant capacity of the extracts obtained from these algae.
“Until now, the impact of the reproductive stage and geographic location of this brown arctic algae representative on changes in biochemical composition, anti-radical properties and health risk was unknown. Our study filled this gap and made Arctic kelp F. spiralis a promising source of functional food with multibiological activity. “Algae can be actively used in the food and pharmaceutical industries,” said Ekaterina Obluchinskaya, head of the research group for the biochemistry of hydrobionts at MMBA.
The scientists also saw that the metal pollution index varied widely, from 42 in algae in the Norwegian Sea to 128-230 in algae in the Irminger Sea.
The findings on metal concentrations in brown algae suggest that seawater in the Arctic region could be classified as “uncontaminated” for all metals, the researchers said.
All the algae examined pose no health risks and are safe for daily consumption as a rich source of polysaccharides, polyphenols and flavonoids with significant antioxidant activity.