Evaluation of Antioxidative Activity of Phenolics in Methanolic Extracts of Blue Green Algae

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

A phenolic rich extract has been isolated from the algae species, Arthrospira platensis. The objectives
of this study were to determine the total amount of phenolics extracted from blue green alga and to
evaluate the antioxidative activity of phenolic extracts in different concentrations of methanolic solvent
using free radical scavenging assay. This study began with extraction of the Arthrospira with liquid
nitrogen into powder after filtration and overnight drying in the oven. This is followed by determination
of total phenolics in different concentrations of methanolic solvent and studied for free radical
scavenging activity using 2, 2-diphenyl-picrylhyldrazyl assay. The concentrations of total phenolics
determined by the folin-ciocalteu method was found to be 252.72 mg.l-1 gallic acid equivalent in
aqueous extracts which showed that phenolic compounds can dissolve more in water medium. The
100% methanolic extracts showed significantly higher antioxidative activities in all assays while in
different concentrations of 100% methanolic extracts, the concentration of 120 mg.l-1 showed the
highest free radical scavenging activity. This study showed that blue-green algae is rich in phenolic
compounds, which are natural antioxidants and may help reduce the problem of climate change by
absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere.

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