The sustainable use of marine resources is a competitive advantage of the most developed countries, which has a positive impact on the economic and social development of their populations. Currently marine organisms such as macroalgae are an important source of functional compounds such as polysaccharides, proteins, unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, among others, with nutritional value and pharmacological properties. Gracilariopsis tenuifrons is a macroalga abundant in the Colombian Caribbean Sea which has not been neither chemically and nor physicochemical studied, therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the polysaccharides composition and nutrients contents of crude extract and its potential UV radiation absorption capacity. The purification was carried out by ultrafiltration using membranes of molecular size exclusion 100, 50, 10 and 3 kDa. The chemical characterization was done by gel electrophoresis, NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy and the particle size and potential zeta by DLS. The absorption coefficient (absorbance/g dry sample) was measured at 290, 310, 340 and 380 nm. Sulfated and non-sulfated polysaccharides were detected in the fractions and identified as polysaccharides type k-, and β-carrageenan and alginate. The proximate analysis showed that the total content of protein, carbohydrates, fat and calories (15.58, 69.81, 0.15 % and 342.94 Kcal, respectively). The crude extracts showed an important absorption coefficient in UVB-UVA range. The findings suggest that G. tenuifrons seaweed propagated in vitro is a viable candidate of natural additives such as phycocolloids and bioactive compounds for designing new functional products in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, in addition to its nutritional properties to be use in foods.
Key words: Algae; chemical characterization; Colombian red seaweed; Gracilariopsis tenuifrons; polysaccharides; UV radiation absorbers
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