Algae as source of pharmaceuticals

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals or pharmaceutical products are medicinal drugs-of proven safety, effectiveness and high quality, which are prescribed and intended to rational dosage. In general, most of the pharmacologically active compounds were isolated from microorganisms and plants, drug-resistance and identification of new disease entities have imposed to select both new sources and application areas of drug components. There is a broad range of health disorders-including cancer, allergy, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases and inflammation, against which algae have been widely used. Medicinal application of algae depends on the biochemical diversity which is affected by a number of factors, including location, season, grazing pressure, salinity, water motion, temperature, light climate, biomass density and nutrient availability. Despite algae variability, main groups of compounds- such as polysaccharides, pigments, terpenoids, alkaloids, polyphenols, peptides and polyunsaturated fatty acids-showing pharmaceutical activity are indicated. Algae constitute an abundant source of bioactive compounds which have a great potential to be used as pharmaceuticals. Currently, the growing interest is put on the application of different algal compounds in the civilization diseases treatment and the market for pharmaceuticals based on compounds of natural origin is growing worldwide. The still untapped reservoir of chemically active compounds and potential in the field of pharmaceuticals imply a requirement of increased screening of algae for healthcare chemicals and the isolation methods development.