Authors: Emmanouil H Papaioannou Nikolaos G Stoforos Maria LiakopoulouKyriakides
Publish Date: 2010/08/24
Volume: 27, Issue: 4, Pages: 851-858
Abstract
Blakeslea trispora produces carotenoids mixtures consisting mainly of lycopene γcarotene and βcarotene together with trace amounts of other carotenoid precursors The yield of these carotenoids and their composition are greatly affected by culture substrate The scavenging capacity of carotenoids extract from cultures of B trispora growing in various substrates was estimated using the 22diphenyl1picrylhydrazyl method Fractions enriched in βcarotene γcarotene and lycopene obtained after column chromatography in alumina basic II were also examined Substrates containing starch and oils mixture Ni2+ and that with pantothenic acid presented higher antioxidant activity An increase in the antioxidant activity of the crude carotenoid extract compared to that of the isolated fractions enriched in βcarotene γcarotene and lycopene respectively observed in most samples indicated a possible synergistic effect The results are of interest and by expanding this study to more substrates and other microorganisms producing antioxidants a formulation of extract with high free radical scavenging potential could be produced
Keywords: