Russian scientists from the Murmansk Institute of Marine Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (MMBI RAS) have developed a fast and environmentally friendly method for extracting fluorotannins, or bladder fucus, from arctic brown algae. This was reported to socialbites.ca by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
“Fluorotannins are unique metabolites. First of all, they are the strongest antioxidants that can be used as a substitute for synthetic antioxidants in food, cosmetics and medicine,” Ekaterina Obluchinskaya, head of the scientific group for biochemistry and hydrobiont technology and lead researcher at MMBI RAS, told Gazeta.
Antioxidants are used in the treatment of diseases based on the appearance of free radicals or oxidative stress that destroy cells. Oxidative stress is a sharp increase in oxidative processes in the body with insufficient functioning of the internal antioxidant system. Fluorotannins can help him.
Scientists from Mie University (Japan) and Puken National University (South Korea) found that fluorotannins may have antidiabetic, anticancer, antioxidant, antibacterial, radioprotective and anti-HIV properties.
A key factor in obtaining an extract from fluorotannins is the selection of a suitable solvent, extraction method and optimal conditions. Scientists often use methanol, acetone, ethanol and ethyl acetate as solvents. However, they are extremely toxic, so it is important to look for a more acceptable substitute for them.
Alternatively, the scientists used a “green” solvent based on lactic acid NADES (nature deep eutectic solvent). It turned out to be more effective and the antioxidant activity of the optimized NADES extract is equal to that of the classical alcohol extract.
In addition, the use of alcoholic extracts in the treatment of diseases caused by oxidative stress is limited: driving and other activities that require increased attention are prohibited. There are no restrictions on the use of fucus extract, developed by Murmansk scientists, and its effectiveness is high.
The resulting extract has an antioxidant property – it can be used in the treatment of any disease based on oxidative stress, as well as in industry to prevent spoilage of products and cosmetics.