High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography Hyphenated with Microchemical and Biochemical Derivatizations in Bioactivity Profiling of Marine Species

• Published in: Marine drugs Vol. 17; no. 3; p. 148
• Main Authors: Agatonovic-Kustrin, Snezana, Kustrin, Ella, Gegechkori, Vladimir, Morton, David W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 03-03-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Acetylcholinesterase; Algae; Alzheimer's disease; Amylases; Antioxidants; Bioactive compounds; Biological activity; Brain; Cardiovascular disease; cholinesterase inhibitors; Chromatography; Diabetes; Drugs; effect-directed analysis (EDA); Enzymes; Esterase; Esterases; Flavonoids; Free radicals; Glucose; HPLC; HPTLC; Iodine; Lipids; marine algae; Marine organisms; Metabolites; Natural products; Neurotransmitters; Phenolic compounds; phenolic lipids; Phenols; Phytosterols; Reagents; Resorcinol; Sea grasses; Steroids; Sterols; Thin layer chromatography; α-Amylase; α-amylase inhibitors; effect-directed analysis (EDA); α-amylase inhibitors; phenolic lipids; antioxidants; cholinesterase inhibitors; marine algae; HPTLC
• ISSN: 1660-3397; 1660-3397
• DOI: 10.3390/md17030148

Marine organisms produce an array of biologically active natural products, many of which have unique structures that have not been found in terrestrial organisms. Hence, marine algae provide a unique source of bioactive compounds. The present study investigated 19 marine algae and one seagrass collected from Torquay beach, Victoria, Australia. High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) hyphenated with microchemical (DPPH•, p-anisaldehyde, and Fast Blue B) and biochemical (α-amylase and acetylcholine esterase (AChE) enzymatic) derivatizations was used to evaluate antioxidant activity, presence of phytosterols and phenolic lipids, α-amylase and AChE inhibitory activities of extract components. Significant α-amylase and AChE inhibitory activities were observed in samples 2, 6, 8 and 10. Antioxidant activities in the samples were found to be correlated to phytosterol content (R² = 0.78), but was not found to be related to either α-amylase or AChE inhibitory activities. α-Amylase inhibitory activities were correlated to AChE inhibition (R² = 0.77) and attributed to the phytosterol content, based on the similar peak position in the chromatograms with the β-sitosterol chromatogram. Samples 1, 8, and especially sample 20, were found to contain phenolic lipids (alkyl resorcinol derivatives) with significant antioxidant activities. The results suggest that these marine species have a significant number of bioactive compounds that warrant further investigation.