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The effect of including the premix extract of the brown Sargassum ilicifolium, Nizimuddinia zanardini, Cystoseira indica, and Padina australis (MPE) macroalgae in the diet on the growth performance, survival, nutritional values, phytochemical, and antioxidant state of whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) was investigated in this study, where in 1200 post larvae with an average weight of 57.53 ± 0.47 mg were distributed randomly by categorizing 100 pieces into 4 groups (three tank iterations per group). The control group was only fed with the concentrated feed (MPE0), while the other groups were fed with a basic diet that consisted of MPE5 (MPE5), 10 (MPE10), and 15 (MPE15) g kg−1 of feed for 8 weeks. According to the results, the highest final weight, specific growth ratio, weight gain, and protein efficiency ratio were recorded for the MPE15 group. The lowest feed conversion ratio was observed in the group fed with MPE15 (P < 0.05). The highest level of crude protein was recorded for the groups fed with MPE10 and MPE15 (P < 0.05). The highest amount of PUFA, total sterols, phenol, flavonoid, catalase (CAT), and glutathione was observed in shrimps fed with MPE15. The results are generally indicative of the positive effect of the premix aqueous extract of the brown S. ilicifolium, N. zanardini, C. indica, and P.australis macroalgae at the 15 g kg−1 of MPE feed level on the growth, nutritional value and phytochemical, and antioxidant status of L. vannamei.

The present study is aimed to evaluate the nutritional value (approximate composition, amino acid, and fatty acid), phytochemicals (sterol, phenol, and flavonoid), and antioxidant status (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and malondialdehyde (MDA)) of Artemia metanauplii (Artemia urmiana) enriched with premix extract of brown macroalgae Padina australis, Sargassum ilicifolium, and Stoechospermum marginatum (PEM). In this study, the cysts were hatched under standard conditions. A total of 2,400,000 metanauplii underwent a completely random scheme with 4 experimental treatments and 3 replications (with 200,000 metanauplii in each replication). The control treatment had no PEM and the experimental treatments were performed with 200, 400, and 600 mg L−1 of PEM in plastic cylindrical-conical containers (2L) at 28 °C and salinity of 30 g L−1 for 8 h. According to the results, with an increase in the concentration of PEM, the fat and protein contents increased and exhibited a significant difference (p < 0.05) compared to the control treatment. Also, the highest total amount of the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), docosahexaenoic acids (DHA) (7.1 ± 91.07%), arachidonic acid (ARA) (6.28 ± 1.02%), linoleic acid (0.0 ± 87.12%) was observed in the PEM600 treatment, which exhibited a significant difference (p < 0.05) from other treatments. Increasing the PEM concentration led to the increased total amount of the essential amino acids, nonessential amino acids, and total amount of all amino acids, and the difference between the PEM-fed treatments was significant (p < 0.05). The highest content of cholesterol, 24-methyl cholesterol, campesterol, sitostanol, delta-7-campesterol, stigmasterol, and total sterol were observed in the PEM600 treatment, which exhibited a significant difference (p < 0.05) from other treatments. There was a direct relationship between the PEM concentration and phenol and flavonoid contents so that the highest values was observed in the metanauplii enriched with PEM600 (2.0 ± 43.13% mg GA g−1 dry extract and 0.007 ± 0.0006 mg QE g−1 dry extract respectively). The highest SOD content in the PEM600 and PEM400 was 29.05 and 29 U mg−1 (p < 0.05). With increasing the PEM concentration, the GPX and CAT contents increased but the CAT content in the PEM600 and PEM400 didn't show a significant difference (p > 0.05). Finally, it is recommended to use the 600 mg concentration of the premix extract of the macroalgae P. australis, S. ilicifolium, and S. marginatum in the A. urmiana diet.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) were the targets of numerous biological syntheses to attain their precious values in various biomedical fields. The phycosynthesis of ZnONPs were innovatively investigated using cell-free extract of the macroalgae, Ulva fasciata Delile. The phycosynthesized U. fasciata-zinc oxide nanoparticles (UFD-ZnONPs) had 77.81 nm mean size, with flower and sphere shapes and positive zeta potential. The UFD-ZnONPs infra-red analysis indicated their basic components’ cross-linkage. The antibacterial potentialities of UFD-ZnONPs were confirmed, qualitatively and quantitatively, against foodborne microorganisms (Escherichia coli plus Staphylococcus aureus); the bactericidal action was higher for UFD-ZnONPs than the annealed phycosynthesized ZnONPs. The scanning micrographs of S. aureus and E. coli cells treated with UFD-ZnONPs indicated the severe action of nanoparticles to destroy bacterial cells in time-dependent manners. Peeled shrimps (Fenneropenaeus indicus) were biopreservated through refrigerated storage (4 °C) with UFD-ZnONPs based solution for six days. The microbial examination of UFD-ZnONPs -treated shrimps displayed decrease in microbial loads throughout the storage days. Moreover, the UFD-ZnONPs-treated shrimps showed acceptable sensorial attributes (appearance, odor, color and texture) compared to untreated shrimps. UFD-ZnONPs nanocomposite concentration of 3% and 5% could be remarkably suggested as efficient procedure for shrimps’ biopreservation during refrigerated storage regarding sensorial quality and microbial profile of product.

Magnetic nano- and microparticles have been successfully used in many areas of algae biotechnology, especially for harvesting of algal biomass, separation of algal biologically active compounds, immobilization of algal cells, removal of important xenobiotics using magnetically modified algae, or for the preparation of magnetic catalysts; alternatively, algae have been employed for the production of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. In this short review paper, the relevant data published in the period 2016–2019 are summarized.

Extreme weather events, such as marine heatwaves (MHWs), pose serious threats to the aquaculture sector, facilitating the occurrence of disease outbreaks and compromising farmed animals’ welfare and survival. Hence, finding eco-innovative strategies to improve animal immunocompetence is essential to assure aquaculture’s sustainability and resilience in a rapidly changing ocean. This study evaluated the immunostimulatory potential of Laminaria digitata powder (0.3% and 1.5%) and extract (0.3%) in juvenile gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) exposed to a Vibrio harveyi outbreak during a Category III MHW event (T = 25.7 °C). Overall, L. digitata supplementation did not significantly affect fish immunocompetence under optimal rearing conditions (T = 21.4 °C; no infection), nor did it induce any adverse effects. However, both the powder (1.5%) and extract (0.3%) forms of L. digitata supplementation effectively mitigated the negative impacts prompted by the MHW and Vibrio harveyi infection—evidenced by improvements in fish health indicators, hematological parameters, leukocyte viability, granulocyte proportions, and reductions in peroxidase activity and immunoglobulin M levels. From an economic standpoint, supplementation with 1.5% L. digitata powder emerged as the most promising strategy, offering a practical balance between effectiveness and affordability for large-scale applications. These findings highlight the potential of L. digitata as an immunostimulatory aquafeed supplement, with promising benefits for fish health and resilience under adverse rearing conditions.

This document was developed within the framework of the EU‐FORA fellowship programme, which aims to improve expertise in food risk assessment through training to ensure awareness for future risk analysis needs. The work aimed to study extracts obtained from macroalgae to be used as functional additives and discusses issues related to their efficacy and chemical safety. Macroalgae have promising potential as a source of bioactive compounds for functional foods due to their antioxidant, antimicrobial, neuroprotective and anticancer properties. However, ensuring safety is of paramount importance due to concerns about the presence of endogenous and exogenous contaminants, such as heavy metals, organic pollutants and other elements like arsenic and iodine.

Marine macroalgae are a vast source of raw materials and biologically active molecules used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and agricultural industries. The search for a food free of chemical residues by consumers has led producers to use environmentally friendly and economically viable products as they are a source of natural compounds, forming a new and promising area of study. In this context, concentrated marine algae extracts (CMAEs) are an important alternative in this production model. This work aimed to evaluate the effects of CMAEs as biostimulants in plant metabolism, promotion of growth, development and production of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivated in a greenhouse. This work was carried out from 24 June to 30 October 2019. The number of leaves, plant length, fresh and dry plant mass, root length, root fresh and dry mass, fruit production and the metabolic performance were evaluated. The results of the stomatal conductance of pepper plants, production and biofortification were related with the levels of nutrients absorbed by the plant, which reflected the effect of the applied biostimulant. The dose that showed the most promising results was the 0.5% concentration of CMAEs.

The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of macroalgal liquid extract (MLE) on the growth, biomass, pigments and proximate composition in the Picochlorum maculatum cells. The water extracts of the seaweeds; Padina gymnosphora, Halimeda macroloba, Caulerpa serrulata, Ulva intestinalis, and Halimeda opuntia of the Mandapam (Southeast coast of India) were assessed for their growth enhancing property in microalga. Further, during the present experiments, an attempt was made for the formulation of an eco-friendly and low-cost, new microalgal – culture medium with the macroalgal liquids along with the minimum quantity of chemicals and commercial fertilizers And the present artificial culture media composition included 30 different combinations (except control) of chemicals (sodium nitrate, sodium ortho phosphate) and commercial fertilizers (urea, super phosphate, ammonium sulphate) along with five macroalgal liquid extracts. The experimental results suggest that the P. maculatum can be successfully grown under the newly formulated MLE-medium along as compared to that of expensive whole medium. The growth (0.12 abs), biomass (2.05 g L −1 ), chlorophyll ‘a’ (2.05 µg/ml), chlorophyll ‘b’ (1.55 µg/ml), total carotenoids (141.98 µg/ml), total fatty acids (76.82%), and total amino acids (92.56%) were found to be comparatively higher in Ulva intestinalis  + Ammonium Sulphate (UI + AS) combined medium than through the whole medium (control) cultured P. maculatum cells. This study clearly underlines the prospect of using MLE as an alternative nutrients supplier to stimulate the growth of microalga that would be an important development in aquaculture feed industry.

Issue Title: Asian Pacific Phycology in the 21st Century: Prospects and Challenges Three species of marine brown macroalgae (seaweeds), Myagropsis myagroides, Sargassum henslowianum and S. siliquastrum collected from Tung Ping Chau, Hong Kong were studied for their curative effects on hepatotoxicity caused by carbon tetrachloride (CCl^sub 4^) in male Sprague-Dawley rats. A single suitable oral dose of 1.25 ml kg^sup -1^ of 20% CCl^sub 4^ was used as a model hepatotoxin to produce significantly elevated levels of serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT). Gavage oral administration of 300 mg kg^sup -1^ of methanol crude extract from S. siliquastrum 6 h post-treatment of CCl^sub 4^ significantly reduced the CCl^sub 4^-induced acute elevation in the levels of SGPT and SGOT in rats. Similar results, though at a less effective level, were achieved for extracts fromS. henslowianum and M. myagroides. These results indicate that these seaweeds may contain some active principles in their methanol extracts which acted as an antidote against the hepatotoxicity induced by CCl^sub 4^. Further investigation is necessary to clarify and characterize the active component(s) in the extracts.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Marine macroalgae, classified into three major groups, brown (Phaeophyceae), red (Rhodophyta), and green (Chlorophyta), represent a source of structurally diverse compounds relevant for topical applications. This narrative review of the peer-reviewed literature and regulatory databases targets macroalgae-derived active ingredients in cosmetic formulations and in wound-healing applications. It outlines major compound classes (polyphenols, sulfated polysaccharides, carotenoids, fatty acids, and peptides), along with their documented biological effects on skin (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, moisturizing, photoprotective, and anti-aging activity) and regulatory/safety aspects with formulation strategies. This review also addresses the variability in compound concentrations resulting from species, environmental conditions, and seasonal factors, which impacts reproducibility and standardization. Common extraction techniques like solvent extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, and enzyme-assisted methods are described in relation to compound class and yield. Analytical methods used for the identification and quantification of these compounds, including HPLC, GC-MS, and FTIR, are then summarized. Additionally, recent in vitro and in vivo studies evaluating the bioactivity and safety of macroalgae-derived ingredients are discussed. This review compiles relevant evidence to inform formulation strategies and ingredient evaluation in the context of marine-based topical products.