Perfil sazonal da atividade de antioxidante in vitro de algas da família Caulerpaceae

Abstract

Macroalgae are sources of bioactive molecules with antioxidant properties, many of which present seasonal variation. Five green algae of the genus Caulerpa (C. cupressoides, C. mexicana, C. prolifera, C. racemosa and C. sertularioides) were collected monthly at Pacheco Beach, from January to December 2006. After collection, they were transported to the laboratory, washed under running water to remove impurities and epiphytes, and freeze-dried. The algae extracts were prepared in methanol (MeOH) in the proportion 1:20 (w:v) under stirring for 1 h at 20°C in an orbital shaker followed by filtration, and the residues were submitted to two further successive extractions. The filtrate from the three methanolic extractions was gathered and concentrated in a rotary evaporator. Portions of the concentrated extract (10 mg) were suspended in 10 mL MeOH (50%). This extract (1 mg/mL) was used in the determination of the total phenolic content (TPC). In vitro antioxidant activity was measured by DPPH radical scavenging, ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), β-carotene bleaching (BCB), and ferrous ion chelating (FIC), at the concentrations 5, 50, 500 and 1000 µg/mL, prepared from the extract. The metal chelator EDTA was used as a positive control in FIC, while the remaining essays used the synthetic antioxidant BHA. The TPC values were higher in the second semester of the year and varied from 4 to 32 mg GAE/g extract. The DPPH radical scavenging, BCB and FIC results did not exhibit variation patterns and presented activities greater than 25%, 70% and 10%, respectively. FRAP in the extracts of C. cupressoides, C. racemosa and C. sertularioides was higher in the second half of the year, while for C. mexicana the largest value was found in the first half of the year, and for C. prolifera variations during the year did not obey a pattern similar to the others. In all methodologies the activities of the alga extracts were inferior to the positive controls. The five species of Caulerpa can be considered potential sources of antioxidants with possible uses, such as in the food industry, not requiring a specific annual period for the extraction of these antioxidant compounds, as though there is variation across the year, it is not highly pronounced.