Original article
Bifurcaria bifurcata: a key macro-alga as a source of bioactive
compounds and functional ingredients
Celso Alves,
1
* Susete Pinteus,
1
Tiago Sim~ oes,
1
Andr e Horta,
1
Joana Silva,
1
Carla Tecel~ ao
1,2
& Rui Pedrosa
1
1 MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ESTM, Instituto Polit ecnico de Leiria, 2520-641 Peniche, Portugal
2 Instituto Superior de Agronomia, LEAF, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
(Received 5 February 2016; Accepted in revised form 5 April 2016)
Summary The aim of this work was to study the proximate composition and the bioactive profile of Bifurcaria
bifurcata. It contains 73.31 0.69% of moisture, 8.57 0.11 g per 100 g dry weight (d.w.) of protein,
5.81 0.14 g per 100 g d.w. of lipid content and 30.15 0.00 g per 100 g d.w. of ash. The polyunsatu-
rated fatty acids were the most abundant fatty acid (FA), accounting for 2426.56 mg per 100 g which rep-
resents 41.77% of the total FA. The methanolic fraction showed high quantity of polyphenols (220.01
0.010 phloroglucinol equivalents g
1
extract), DPPH radical reduction capacity (EC
50
:58.82 lg mL
1
)
and oxygen radical absorbent capacity (3151.35 119.33 lmol Trolox equivalents g
1
extract). The
highest antimicrobial effect was observed against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.3 1.5 mm) and Sac-
charomyces cerevisiae (IC
50
:17.07 lg mL
1
) induced by methanolic and dichloromethane fractions,
respectively. Dichloromethane fraction revealed the highest antitumor activity on Caco-2 and HepG-
2 cells. Bifurcaria bifurcata can be a promising source of bioactive compounds and functional
ingredients.
Keywords Antimicrobial agents, antioxidant activity, bioassays, fatty acids, natural products, nutrition, seaweeds.
Introduction
Over recent decades, there has been an increasing
demand for natural compounds and functional foods
associated with health and welfare of humans, by
pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries (Panges-
tuti & Kim, 2011). Consequently, the marine environ-
ment has proved to be one of the most interesting
and rich source of natural compounds, many of
which exhibit structural/chemical features not found
in terrestrial environment (Murray et al., 2013). For
many centuries, algae have played an important eco-
logical and commercial role in many regions of the
world, for food or therapeutic practice, especially in
Asian countries such as China, Japan and Korea
(Almeida et al., 2011). More recently, the interest in
the commercial utilisation of algae has been increas-
ing, as these showed to be a rich source of valuable
chemical constituents exhibiting different biological
activities with applications in food, cosmetic, agricul-
tural and horticultural sectors, as well in human
health (Stengel et al., 2011). However, Portugal and
many other European countries have not benefited
conveniently, so far, either from the nutritional point
of view or from the adding value associated with the
unique compounds that these marine organisms pro-
duce.
The ability of algae to adapt to extreme environ-
mental conditions is directly reflected on the diversity
of compounds produced with high biotechnological
relevance such as phenolic compounds, terpenes or
alkaloids that are related with antioxidant, antimicro-
bial, antitumor and other bioactivities (El Gamal
2010). Moreover, due to their low content in lipids,
high concentration in polysaccharides, natural richness
in minerals, polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamins
(Guschina & Harwood, 2006), algae are referenced as
an important source of functional ingredients well
recognised due to their valuable health beneficial
effects (Pangestuti & Kim, 2011).
Macro-algae can be classified into three classes:
green algae (Chlorophyta), red algae (Rhodophyta)
and brown algae (Ochrophyta) (Guiry & Guiry, 2014).
Among the algae groups settled in temperate regions,
Phaeophyceae are the most abundant and the species
of Sargassaceae and Dictyotaceae families constitute
the main producers of bioactive compounds with 2/3
1638
*Correspondent: Fax: +351 262 783 088;
e-mail: celso.alves@ipleiria.pt
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2016, 51, 1638–1646
doi:10.1111/ijfs.13135
© 2016 Institute of Food Science and Technology