title: Antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties of marennine, a blue-green polyphenolic pigment from the diatom Haslea ostrearia (Gaillon/Bory) Simonsen responsible for the natural greening of cultured oysters.
abstract: Among microalgae, the marine diatom Haslea ostrearia has the distinctive feature of synthesizing and releasing, into the surrounding environment, a blue-green polyphenolic pigment called marennine. The oyster-breeding industry commonly makes use of this natural phenomenon for the greening of oysters grown in the ponds of the French Atlantic coast. This article reports the in vitro antioxidant properties of pure marennine. Two kinds of evaluation systems were adopted to test the antioxidative activity of marennine: antioxidant capacity assays (beta-carotene and thymidine protection assays and iron reducing power assay) and free radical scavenging assays (DPPH*, O2*-, and HO*). In almost all cases, marennine exhibited significantly higher antioxidative and free radical scavenging activities than natural and synthetic antioxidants commonly used in food, as shown by comparing median effective concentration (EC 50) values, for each test independently. This medium molecular weight polyphenol (around 10 kDa) from microalgae is thus a potentially useful natural antioxidant. Because of its blue-coloring property and water solubility, it could also be used as a natural food-coloring additive.
authors.affiliation: Universite de Nantes, MMS, EA 2160, PML, UFR Sciences, 2 rue de la Houssiniere-BP 92208 Nantes cedex 3, Brittany, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Bernard
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Pouvreau
authors.forename: Michèle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morançais
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Taran
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dufossé
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guérard
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pin
authors.forename: Joël
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fleurence
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pondaven
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D017377:Diatoms / Q000737:chemistry*; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology; D005503:Food Additives; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017665:Hydroxyl Radical; D010125:Ostreidae / Q000737:chemistry*; D010636:Phenols / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010851:Picrates; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000494:pharmacology*; D059808:Polyphenols; D013481:Superoxides
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D005290:Ferric Compounds; D005419:Flavonoids; D005503:Food Additives; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D010636:Phenols; D010851:Picrates; D010860:Pigments, Biological; D059808:Polyphenols; C531901:marennine; D013481:Superoxides; D017665:Hydroxyl Radical; C004931:1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl