Autor(es):
Costa, Micaela ; Soares, Cristina ; Silva, Aurora ; Barroso, Maria Fátima ; Simões, Pedro ; Ferreira, Mariana ; Gameiro, Paula ; Grosso, Clara ; Delerue-Matos, Cristina
Data: 2025
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/184350
Origem: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Projeto/bolsa:
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/Concurso para Financiamento de Projetos de Investigação Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico em Todos os Domínios Científicos - 2017/PTDC%2FOCE-ETA%2F30240%2F2017/PT;
Assunto(s): Box–Behnken design; Food fortification; Phytosomes; Seaweeds; Subcritical water extraction; Pharmaceutical Science; Drug Discovery; Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics (miscellaneous); SDG 14 - Life Below Water
Descrição
Funding Information: This work was financed by FEDER—Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020—Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), and by Portuguese funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the framework of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030240—PTDC/OCE-ETA/30240/2017—SilverBrain—From Sea to Brain: Green Neuroprotective Extracts for Nanoencapsulation and Functional Food Production. This work was supported by project UID/50006—Laboratório Associado para a Química Verde—Tecnologias e Processos Limpos, financed by PT national funds (FCT/MECI, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Ministério da Educação, Ciência e Inovação). Aurora Silva thanks the EU-FORA Fellowship Program (EUBA-EFSA-2023-ENREL-01) for the grant received. MF thanks FCT and LAQV-REQUIMTE for a post-doc fellowship (REQUIMTE 2019-34). Publisher Copyright: © 2025 by the authors.
Marine macroalgae are excellent sources of bioactive compounds recognized by their pharmaceutical and biomedical potential. A subcritical water extraction (SWE) was applied to the macroalga Codium tomentosum, and the extract was used to prepare phytosomes. A Box–Behnken design was applied to optimize the entrapment efficiency. These phytosomes were further modified with DSPE-PEG (2000)-maleimide and apolipoprotein E and characterized by dynamic light scattering, UV spectrophotometry, octanol/water partition coefficient, differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. As proof of concept, prototypes of functional food tailored to the elderly were produced. Yogurts were fortified with seaweed extract or phytosomes, and physicochemical properties and proximal composition (pH, acidity, syneresis, moisture, peroxides, proteins, total lipids, sugar content, ash, and mineral composition) were analyzed. The antioxidant and the inhibition capacity of two brain enzymes, cholinesterases (AChE and BuChE), involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, were also evaluated in the final prototypes. Despite their unappealing sensory characteristics, the results are promising for integrating marine extracts with potential neuroprotective effects into functional foods.
