ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION POTENTIAL OF VALUABLE COMPOUNDS WITH ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF DIFFERENT GREEN MICROALGAE.

Green microalgae are widely known for their nutritional and therapeutic applications due to the richness in nutrients and bioactive elements. The aim of this research was to characterise the phytochemical and nutritional compounds with antioxidant properties of three different strains: Chlorella vulgaris R-06/2; Scenedesmus acutus M Tomaselli 8 and Scenedesmus obliquus BGP under optimal growth conditions. Algal concentration was measured daily by dry weight. The concentration of phytochemical compounds was determined by using UV-vis. spectrophotometry. The highest biomass yield was achieved by Scenedesmus obliquus BGP-(6.6 g/l) after 144 h of cultivation. In the experiments Scenedesmus acutus accumulated the highest percentage of pigments (3.22% of dry weight). The polyphenols produced by the Scenedesmus sp. representatives does not impact much the level of the antioxidant activity, at the same time, Ch. vulgaris shows much higher levels of polyphenols and ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), which makes it the alga with the best antioxidant properties from the assessed ones. This work proved the presence of biologically active substances in the three strains studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]