Sulfated Galactans from Agarophytes: Review of Extraction Methods, Structural Features, and Biological Activities

Agarophytes are important seaweeds of the Rhodophyta type, which have been highly exploited for industrial use as sources of a widely consumed polysaccharide of agar. In addition to that, sulfated galactans (SGs) from agarophytes, which consist of various functional sulfate groups, have attracted th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Biomolecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 12; p. 1745
Main Authors:	Chumsook, Khosook, Praiboon, Jantana, Fu, Xiaoting
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland MDPI AG 01-12-2023
Subjects:	Agar agarophytes Algae bioactivity Biopharmaceutics Chemical properties Diabetes mellitus Diarrhea Environmental factors Ethanol extraction Extraction (Chemistry) Food Food industry Functional foods Functional foods & nutraceuticals Galactans Health aspects Hydrocarbons Industrial applications Inflammation Intestinal microflora Lipids Marine algae Methods Microbiota Pharmaceutical industry Pharmaceutical research Phenols Polysaccharides Proteins Raw materials Seaweeds Solvents structure sulfated galactans China Japan sulfated galactans agarophytes bioactivity extraction structure
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Summary:	Agarophytes are important seaweeds of the Rhodophyta type, which have been highly exploited for industrial use as sources of a widely consumed polysaccharide of agar. In addition to that, sulfated galactans (SGs) from agarophytes, which consist of various functional sulfate groups, have attracted the attention of scientists in current studies. SGs possess various biological activities, such as anti-tumor, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, anti-diarrhea, and gut microbiota regulation properties. Meanwhile, the taxonomy, ecological factors, i.e., environmental factors, and harvest period, as well as preparation methods, i.e., the pretreatment, extraction, and purification conditions, have been found to influence the chemical compositions and fine structures of SGs, which have, further, been shown to have an impact on their biological activities. However, the gaps in the knowledge of the properties of SGs due to the above complex factors have hindered their industrial application. The aim of this paper is to collect and systematically review the scientific evidence about SGs and, thus, to pave the way for broader and otherwise valuable industrial applications of agarophytes for human enterprise. In the future, this harvested biomass could be sustainably used not only as a source of agar production but also as natural materials in functional food and pharmaceutical industries.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1
ISSN:	2218-273X 2218-273X
DOI:	10.3390/biom13121745