Astaxanthin is a coloring agent which is used as a feed additive in aquaculture nutrition. Recently, potential health benefits of astaxanthin have been discussed which may be partly related to its free radical scavenging and antioxidant properties. Our electron spin resonance (ESR) and spin trapping data suggest that synthetic astaxanthin is a potent free radical scavenger in terms of diphenylpicryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) and galvinoxyl free radicals. Furthermore, astaxanthin dose-dependently quenched singlet oxygen as determined by photon counting. In addition to free radical scavenging and singlet oxygen quenching properties, astaxanthin induced the antioxidant enzyme paroxoanase-1, enhanced glutathione concentrations and prevented lipid peroxidation in cultured hepatocytes. Present results suggest that, beyond its coloring properties, synthetic astaxanthin exhibits free radical scavenging, singlet oxygen quenching, and antioxidant activities which could probably positively affect animal and human health.

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/17/1/103/pdf

Free Radical Scavenging and Cellular Antioxidant Properties of Astaxanthin.

Background Bioresidues valorization has gained a pivotal relevance in the last years, directly moved by consumers' demands for heathier and safer products (food, cosmetics, supplements, drugs, and so on) and by industrial companies that need to adapt their manufacturing procedures to increasingly strict regulatory guidelines. Most of the natural ingredients are considered more sought and safer than synthetic ones, but also more expensive and less abundant. Therefore, the recovery of valuable active ingredients from wastes and by-products may be an interesting and upcoming strategy. Scope and approach The present report aims to provide an extensive approach to bioresidues valorization, focusing its chemical composition in terms of carotenoids content and their upcoming uses for biotechnological purposes. Key findings and conclusions Daily produced and discharged industrial bioresidues derived from vegetable (peel, seeds, pericarp) and animal (wastewater, crustacean's cephalothorax and carapace, scales, tails) sources comprise the richest sources of carotenoids (carotenes and xanthophylls). Different techniques are commonly used for carotenoids recovery being the extraction with organic solvents the most frequently used. Supercritical fluid extraction, microwave- and enzyme-assisted extractions are applied, but mainly in combination. This area opens fascinating opportunities to discover and to design novel strategies for carotenoids production/accumulation, foodstuffs valorization and provide valuable ingredients to different industrial sectors.

Wastes and by-products: Upcoming sources of carotenoids for biotechnological purposes and health-related applications

Intensified green production of astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis

Swertia mussotii Franch. is an important traditional Tibetan medicinal plant with pharmacological properties effective in the treatment of various ailments including hepatitis. Secoiridoids are the major bioactive compounds in S. mussotii. To better understand the secoiridoid biosynthesis pathway, we generated transcriptome sequences from the root, leaf, stem, and flower tissues, and performed de novo sequence assembly, yielding 98,613 unique transcripts with an N50 of 1,085 bp. Putative functions could be assigned to 35,029 transcripts (35.52%) based on BLAST searches against annotation databases including GO and KEGG. The expression profiles of 39 candidate transcripts encoding the key enzymes for secoiridoid biosynthesis were examined in different S. mussotii tissues, validated by qRT-PCR, and compared with the homologous genes from S. japonica, a species in the same family, unveiling the gene expression, regulation, and conservation of the pathway. The examination of the accumulated levels of three bioactive compounds, sweroside, swertiamarin, and gentiopicroside, revealed their considerable variations in different tissues, with no significant correlation with the expression profiles of key genes in the pathway, suggesting complex biological behaviours in the coordination of metabolite biosynthesis and accumulation. The genomic dataset and analyses presented here lay the foundation for further research on this important medicinal plant.

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Deep sequencing and transcriptome analyses to identify genes involved in secoiridoid biosynthesis in the Tibetan medicinal plant Swertia mussotii

Integrated Haematococcus pluvialis biomass production and nutrient removal using bioethanol plant waste effluent

Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, was recovered from the cooking water of shrimp processing facilities. The oil contains significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acids in triglyceride form, along with substantial long-chain monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). It also features natural isomeric forms of astaxanthin, a nutritional carotenoid, which gives the oil a brilliant red color. As part of our efforts in developing value added products from waste streams of the seafood processing industry, we present in this paper a comprehensive characterization of the triacylglycerols (TAGs) and astaxanthin esters that predominate in the shrimp oil by using HPLC-HRMS and MS/MS, as well as 13C-NMR. This approach, in combination with FAME analysis, offers direct characterization of fatty acid molecules in their intact forms, including the distribution of regioisomers in TAGs. The information is important for the standardization and quality control, as well as for differentiation of composition features of shrimp oil, which could be sold as an ingredient in health supplements and functional foods.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/13/6/3849/pdf

Kathryn Vanya Ewart

Papers

Characterization of Shrimp Oil from Pandalus borealis by High Performance Liquid Chromatography and High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Characterization of Shrimp Oil from Pandalus borealis by High Performance Liquid Chromatography and High Resolution