Gelidium (G.) amansii is a red alga widely distributed in the shallow waters around East Asian countries. We investigated the effect of G. amansii on lipid accumulation and ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) production in 3T3-L1 cells. G. amansii extracts dose-dependently inhibited lipid formation and ROS generation in cultured cells. Our results showed that anti-adipogenic effect of G. amansii was due to the reduction in mRNA expressions of PPARγ peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ and aP2 (adipocyte protein 2). G. amansii extracts significantly decreased mRNA levels of a ROS-generator, NOX4 (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate hydrogen oxidase 4), and increased the protein levels of antioxidant enzymes including SOD1/2 (superoxide dis-mutases), Gpx (glutathione peroxidase), and GR (glutathione reductase), which can lead to the reduction of ROS in the cell. In addition, the G. amansii extract enhanced mRNA levels of adiponectin, one of the adipokines secreted from adipocytes, and GLUT4, glucose uptake protein. Taken together, our study shows that G. amansii extract inhibited lipid accumulation and ROS production by controlling adipogenic signals and ROS regulating genes.
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Macroalgae are one of potential sources for carotenoids, such as fucoxanthin, which are consumed by humans and animals. This carotenoid has been applied in both the pharmaceutical and food industries. In this study, extraction of fucoxanthin from wet brown seaweed Undaria pinnatifida (water content was 93.2%) was carried out with a simple method using liquefied dimethyl ether (DME) as an extractant in semi-continuous flow-type system. The extraction temperature and absolute pressure were 25 °C and 0.59 MPa, respectively. The liquefied DME was passed through the extractor that filled by U. pinnatifida at different time intervals. The time of experiment was only 43 min. The amount of fucoxanthin could approach to 390 μg/g dry of wet U. pinnatifida when the amount of DME used was 286 g. Compared with ethanol Soxhlet and supercritical CO2 extraction, which includes drying and cell disruption, the result was quite high. Thus, DME extraction process appears to be a good method for fucoxanthin recovery from U. pinnatifida with improved yields.
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his study tested extractsfrom New Zealand seaweedUndaria pinnatifidacontaining fucoxanthin, in parallel with purefucoxanthin, in nine human cancer cell lines,for anticancer activity. Growth inhibition effects of extracts fromUndaria pinnatifidawerefound in all types of cancer cell lines in dose-and time- dependent manners. Cytotoxicityof fucoxanthin in three human non-cancer celllines was also tested. Compared with purefucoxanthin, our extracts containing low level of fucoxanthin were found to be moreeffective in inhibiting the growth of lung carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma andneuroblastoma. Our results suggest that fucoxanthin is a functional biomaterial that may beused as a chemopreventive phytochemical orin combination chemotherapy. Furthermore,we show for the first time that some unknown compounds with potential selectiveanti-cancer effects may existin extracts of New ZealandUndaria pinnatifida, andNew ZealandUndaria pinnatifidacould be used as a source for either functionalbiomaterial extraction orproduction of functional food.
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The Seaweed Consultant was hired by the FAO to assist the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (MOFA) through the Oceanographic Society of Maldives (OSM) in introducing the Eucheuma (seaweed) farming technology at Gamu Island, Laamu atoll, Maldives.
Several prior attempts to introduce seaweed fanning in the Maldives had failed, mainly due to the problem of fish grazers. The farming technique used in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Tanzania (monoline system) could not be applied successfully in the Maldives due to the abundance of fish grazers which thrive in the lagoons.
When the consultant arrived in the Maldives in February 1996 for his first one-month technical assistance, he brought a sample of the net-bag propagule holders which he had devised in the Philippines to counter problems such as grazer attacks and losses due to turbulent weather. The floating net-bag technique is described in detail in the project field document No. 2. The new technique eliminated also the tedious process of tying every propagule to the monoline, thereby saving a lot of labour cost. When he visited the test station for the Eucheuma at Gamu island, he observed that the plants were almost consumed by the grazers since the propagules were cultured using the monoline system. The remaining plants were untied from the monoline and then brought to another site where the current was good and where the water motion was consistent. The five kilograms of cottonii which were salvaged were planted, placing them in 10 net-bags at the rate of 1/2 kilogram/bag. The propagule line containing the 10 net-bags was installed in the water in the selected area. After 15 days, the plants recovered and showed a good growth rate, which was computed to be 3-4% daily.
The seedlings in the net-bags were split continuously every month. Five hundred net-bags were procured to contain the rapidly increasing volume of seedstocks. By September, 1996, OSM reported that the seedling inventory was already 600 kilograms, requiring additional net-bags (35,000 pieces).
At this time the plant growth had increased to about 5-6% daily, which means that the biomass was doubling every 10-15 days.
In March, 1997, the Seaweed Consultant carried out his second one-month mission to evaluate the performance of the seaweed culture and to introduce the post-harvest technology to the project staff and workers.
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Dr. Isabella Kauakea Yau Yung Aiona Abbott will forever be an icon in Hawai‘i for her academic achievements, revolutionary seaweed research, various accolades, and over a hundred limu-related publications. However, it’s the values she embodied as a person that make her a timeless inspiration to Native Hawaiians and to the entire state of Hawai‘i.
Dr. Abbott grew up in an era when Native Hawaiians confronted harmful misconceptions and offensive stereotypes, and a time when women were seen as lesser than men. She rejected those narratives and instead lived authentically as a passionate young Native Hawaiian woman who became the world’s leading expert on algae in the Pacific. She always credited her love for algae to the limu lessons she learned from her mom while playing on the beach as a child. Her upbringing led her to understand that Hawaiians have always been scientists. She uplifted Hawaiian culture and the relationship that Western science has with Hawaiian culture throughout her algal research in Hawai‘i and California. She inspired University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa to create a Hawaiian ethnobotany bachelor’s degree and touched the lives of countless students through her teachings. She once said in an interview, “Hawaiian culture is unbelievably sophisticated,” and every day she embodied the meaning of those words.
Dr. Abbott is a treasure to scientists, Hawai‘i, Native Hawaiians, and anyone told that they can’t do something because of their background. She will always be remembered and honored as one of Hawai‘i’s most inspirational leaders.
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Throughout the course of development wheat seeds undergo changes in both fresh and dry weight and in moisture content. Between 10 and 20 DAF, both fresh and dry weights increase very rapidly. Accumulation of dry matter ceases at the same time as the seed dried out at 40 DAF. The natural desiccation period for wheat seeds is established between 30 and 40 DAF. Freshly harvested wheat seeds are capable of germinating during the period between 20 and 30 DAF but germinating capacity is very low. Increased frequency of germination along with the increase in seed age was observed in case of artificially desiccated seeds. It is noteworthy that the capacity of desiccated seeds to germinate does not depend on the degree of desiccation but only on their age at harvest time.
The amount of water absorbed by desiccated seeds during germination depends on developmental stage of seeds at harvest time. It was established that to the lower initial moisture content of desiccated seeds correspond higher amounts of water absorbed in the course of germination. Moreover for every investigated phase of seed development there is a determined degree of moisture and the water uptake of desiccated seeds can not overcome this value. Full maturity of field grown wheat seeds was reached at 50 DAF.
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Long-chain polymers from many seaweeds, microscopic algae, and bacteria have been demonstrated to reduce turbulent-flow friction in water. In the investigation all water samples tested from inland and marine sources gained friction-reduction ability when enriched with sugar, as a consequence of polysaccharide synthesis by bacteria. Biological polymers, therefore, are the probable cause of the unexplainable variations in hydrodynamic test facilities. Bacterial polysaccharides were more effective than seaweed extracts at low concentrations for friction reduction, but both were much less effective than synthetic polymers. Turbulent-flow frictional measurements were found to be sensitive for the detection, measurement, and partial characterization of long- chain polymers
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Fucoidans, fucose-enriched sulfated polysaccharides isolated from brown algae and marine invertebrates, have been shown to exert anticancer activity in several types of human cancer, including leukemia and breast cancer and in lung adenocarcinoma cells. In the present study, the anticancer activity of the fucoidan extracted from the brown seaweed Undaria pinnatifida was investigated in human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC-7721 cells, and the underlying mechanisms of action were investigated. SMMC-7721 cells exposed to fucoidan displayed growth inhibition and several typical features of apoptotic cells, such as chromatin condensation and marginalization, a decrease in the number of mitochondria, and in mitochondrial swelling and vacuolation. Fucoidan-induced cell death was associated with depletion of reduced glutathione (GSH), accumulation of high intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and accompanied by damage to the mitochondrial ultrastructure, depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP, Δψm) and caspase activation. Moreover, fucoidan led to altered expression of factors related to apoptosis, including downregulating Livin and XIAP mRNA, which are members of the inhibitor of apoptotic protein (IAP) family, and increased the Bax-to-Bcl-2 ratio. These findings suggest that fucoidan isolated from U. pinnatifida induced apoptosis in SMMC-7721 cells via the ROS-mediated mitochondrial pathway.
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Fucoxanthin, a natural carotenoid, is abundant in seaweed with antioxidant properties. This study investigated the role of fucoxanthin in the induction of antioxidant enzymes involved in the synthesis of reduced glutathione (GSH), synthesized by glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC) and glutathione synthetase (GSS), via Akt/nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related (Nrf2) pathway in human keratinocytes (HaCaT) and elucidated the underlying mechanism. Fucoxanthin treatment increased the mRNA and protein levels of GCLC and GSS in HaCaT cells. In addition, fucoxanthin treatment promoted the nuclear translocation and phosphorylation of Nrf2, a transcription factor for the genes encoding GCLC and GSS. Chromatin immune-precipitation and luciferase reporter gene assays revealed that fucoxanthin treatment increased the binding of Nrf2 to the antioxidant response element (ARE) sequence and transcriptional activity of Nrf2. Fucoxanthin treatment increased phosphorylation of Akt (active form), an up-regulator of Nrf2 and exposure to LY294002, a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt inhibitor, suppressed the fucoxanthin-induced activation of Akt, Nrf2, resulting in decreased GCLC and GSS expression. In accordance with the effects on GCLC and GSS expression, fucoxanthin induced the level of GSH. In addition, fucoxanthin treatment recovered the level of GSH reduced by ultraviolet B irradiation. Taken together, these findings suggest that fucoxanthin treatment augments cellular antioxidant defense by inducing Nrf2-driven expression of enzymes involved in GSH synthesis via PI3K/Akt signaling.
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A growing global population, combined with factors such as changing socio-demographics, will place increased pressure on the world's resources to provide not only more but also different types of food. Increased demand for animal-based protein in particular is expected to have a negative environmental impact, generating greenhouse gas emissions, requiring more water and more land. Addressing this "perfect storm" will necessitate more sustainable production of existing sources of protein as well as alternative sources for direct human consumption. This paper outlines some potential demand scenarios and provides an overview of selected existing and novel protein sources in terms of their potential to sustainably deliver protein for the future, considering drivers and challenges relating to nutritional, environmental, and technological and market/consumer domains. It concludes that different factors influence the potential of existing and novel sources. Existing protein sources are primarily hindered by their negative environmental impacts with some concerns around health. However, they offer social and economic benefits, and have a high level of consumer acceptance. Furthermore, recent research emphasizes the role of livestock as part of the solution to greenhouse gas emissions, and indicates that animal-based protein has an important role as part of a sustainable diet and as a contributor to food security. Novel proteins require the development of new value chains, and attention to issues such as production costs, food safety, scalability and consumer acceptance. Furthermore, positive environmental impacts cannot be assumed with novel protein sources and care must be taken to ensure that comparisons between novel and existing protein sources are valid. Greater alignment of political forces, and the involvement of wider stakeholders in a governance role, as well as development/commercialization role, is required to address both sources of protein and ensure food security.
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