Red Sea Macroalgae as a Source of Sulfated Polysaccharides: biomedical, and cosmeceutical perspectives

Document Type : Review Article

Authors

1 Botany Department, Faculty of Women for Arts, Science & Education, Cairo - Egypt

2 Pharmacognosy Department, Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research Institute, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt

3 National Institute of Oceanography, and Fisheries (NIOF), Cairo 11516, Egypt

Abstract

Seaweed is abundant in the waters surrounding Egypt's coast, particularly the Red Sea. Seaweed is an excellent source of nutrition due to its abundance of polysaccharides. Polysaccharides can constitute up to 70 percentage of the cell walls of certain seaweeds. Polysaccharides are crucial for a variety of biological functions, including the prevention of blood clots, the treatment of diabetes, the modification of the immune system, the prevention of cancer, the suppression of microbes, and the reduction of inflammation. Polysaccharides are also crucial for the management of diabetes and other diseases. Additionally, they are effective in maintaining the moisture of the epidermis and whitening it. As a result, they are regarded as highly intriguing research opportunities in the disciplines of cosmeceuticals and biomedicine. The primary emphasis of this review is on the increasing significance of algal sulfated polysaccharides in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, as well as their role in medicine.

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