Cosmeceutical potential of grateloupia turuturu: using low-cost extraction methodologies to obtain added-value extracts

This study was supported by UID/MAR/04292/2020 with funding from FCT/MCTES through national funds, and by the grant awarded to Rafael Félix (SFRH/BD/139763/2018). The authors also wish to acknowledge the support of the European Union through the EASME Blue Labs project AMALIA, Algae-to-MArket Lab IdeAs (EASME/EMFF/2016/1.2.1.4/03/SI2.750419), project VALORMAR (Mobilizing R&TD Programs, Portugal 2020), co-funded by COMPETE (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-024517), the Integrated Programme of SR&TD “Smart Valorization of Endogenous Marine Biological Resources Under a Changing Climate” (reference Centro-01-0145-FEDER-000018) and RD&T co-promotion project ORCHESTRA (nº 70155), co-funded by Centro 2020 program, Portugal 2020, European Union, European Regional Development Fund, and SAICTPAC/0019/2015—LISBOA01-0145-FEDER-016405 Oncologia de Precisão: Terapias e Tecnologias Inovadoras (POINT4PAC), through the European Regional Development Fund. The invasive macroalga Grateloupia turuturu is known to contain a diversity of bioactive compounds with different potentialities. Among them are compounds with relevant bioactivities for cosmetics. Considering this, this study aimed to screen bioactivities with cosmeceutical potential, namely, antioxidant, UV absorbance, anti-enzymatic, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory activities, as well as photoprotection potential. Extractions with higher concentrations of ethanol resulted in extracts with higher antioxidant activities, while for the anti-enzymatic activity, high inhibition percentages were obtained for elastase and hyaluronidase with almost all extracts. Regarding the antimicrobial activity, all extracts showed to be active against E. coli, S. aureus, and C. albicans. Extracts produced with higher percentages of ethanol were more effective against E. coli and with lower percentages against the other two microorganisms. Several concentrations of each extract were found to be safe for fibroblasts, but no photoprotection capacity was observed. However, one of the aqueous extracts was responsible for reducing around 40% of the nitric oxide production on macrophages, showing its anti-inflammatory potential. This work highlights G. turuturu’s potential in the cosmeceutical field, contributing to the further development of natural formulations for skin protection. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion