Microalgae represent one of the most promising sources of bioactive compounds for the pharmaceutical and food industries. Among these bioactives, carotenoids could be highlighted due to their health-promoting effects, including anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective or antioxidant properties. In this study, diverse microalgae extracts enriched in carotenoids, including extracts from Haematococcus pluvialis, Nannochloropsis oceanica, Tisochrysis lutea and Porphyridium cruentum, were evaluated through a battery of in vitro neuroprotective assays in an effort to estimate their potential against neurological disorders. Results indicated that microalgae extracts exerted a moderate and selective cholinesterase inhibitory potential, as well as high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacities, highlighting N. oceanica and T. lutea extracts. In parallel, cytotoxicity tests and evaluation of the anti-inflammatory capacity of the microalgae extracts were performed using different models. In this regard, N. oceanica extract showed the highest inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokine release, indicating that this microalga extract could be the most promising neuroprotective agent.

This work was supported by projects ABACUS (Algae for a Biomass Applied to the produCtion of added value compounds—funded by the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 745668) and AGL2017-89417-R (MINECO, Spain). A.V. would like to acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for his “Juan de la Cierva” post-doctoral grant (IJC2018-037560-I). J.D.S-M. would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Education (Spain) for a FPU predoctoral grant FPU17/01876. Z.J.S.M. would like to acknowledge the University of Nariño (Colombia) for financial support.

Peer reviewed