Profiles of carotenoids and amino acids and total phenolic compounds of the red alga Pterocladiella capillacea exposed to cadmium and different salinities Éder C. Schmidt 1 & Marthiellen R. de L. Felix 2 & Marianne G. Kreusch 2 & Débora T. Pereira 2 & Giulia B. Costa 2 & Carmen Simioni 2 & Luciane C. Ouriques 2 & Neusa Steiner 5 & Fungyi Chow 3 & Eny S. L. Floh 3 & Fernanda Ramlov 4 & Marcelo Maraschin 4 & Zenilda L. Bouzon 2 Received: 16 July 2015 /Revised and accepted: 16 October 2015 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 Abstract The in vitro effect of cadmium (Cd) on apical seg- ments of the red macroalga Pterocladiella capillacea was ex- amined. Over a period of 7 days, the segments were cultivated with a combination of different salinities (25, 35, and 45 psu) and Cd concentrations ranging from 0.17 to 0.70 ppm. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Cd exposure at various salinities on profiles of carotenoids amino acids and phenolic compounds. Carotenoid profile of control (0 ppm Cd) and Cd- treated plants of P. capillacea showed the presence of lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, α-carotene, trans-β-carotene and cis-β-carotene. Significant increase was found for almost all carotenoids, 0.35 ppm Cd + 25 psu, 0.70 ppm Cd + 25 psu, and 0 ppm Cd + 45 psu. Total phenolic compounds of P. capillacea had an overall decrease with treatments of Cd and 25 or 45 psu. Twenty essential amino acids were quantified in P. capillacea samples. At 0 ppm Cd and using baseline control of 35 psu, low and high salinity levels (25 and 45 psu, respectively) significantly altered total amino acid content. Ap- parently, salinity plays a greater role in amino acid response than Cd concentration. Therefore, more studies with intensified salinity stress over long-term exposure could confirm the major effect of the suggested treatment on this species. Keywords Pterocladiellacapillacea . Cadmium . Carotenoid profile . Phenolic compounds . Amino acids Introduction Increasing coastal urbanization (Martins et al. 2012; Scherner et al. 2013) and anthropogenic discharge of heavy metals in coastal areas have resulted in harmful effects on aquatic plants, such as lower photosynthetic efficiency, thus decreas- ing the biodiversity of primary producers (Mamboya et al. 1999; Torres et al. 2008). Physiologic algal alterations under metal exposure in the laboratory have been widely document- ed (Gouveia et al. 2013; Felix et al. 2014; Santos et al. 2014; Costa et al. 2015; Schmidt et al. 2015; Simioni et al. 2015). Some metals, such as zinc and copper, are essential for the metabolism of photosynthetic organisms; however, other metals, like cadmium, have no relevant biological function, resulting in toxic effects on exposure (Sharma and Dietz 2006). Cadmium (Cd) is largely soluble in water, has high mobility, and can harm primary producers, even in small con- centrations (Barceló and Poschenrieder 1990; Pinto et al. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10811-015-0737-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Éder C. Schmidt edcash@ccb.ufsc.br; eder.schmidt@pq.cnpq.br 1 Postdoctoral Research of Postgraduate Program in Cell Biology and Development, Department of Cell Biology, Embryology and Genetics, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88049-900, CP 476, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil 2 Plant Cell Biology Laboratory, Department of Cell Biology, Embryology and Genetics, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88049-900, CP 476, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil 3 Institute of Bioscience, Department of Botany, University of São Paulo, 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil 4 Plant Morphogenesis and Biochemistry Laboratory, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88049-900, CP 476, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil 5 Plant Physiology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88049-900, CP 476, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil J Appl Phycol DOI 10.1007/s10811-015-0737-8