What this work is about, in plain words
A brief overview of two cultures as sources of antioxidant pigments: the diatom Cylindrotheca closterium (fucoxanthin) and spirulina (a carotenoid complex). The authors give their content in the biomass and report that they isolated the pigments in pure form.
Microalgae contain valuable substances: polyunsaturated fatty acids, polysaccharides, vitamins and carotenoids. Many of them are antioxidants. The authors briefly described two cultures they consider convenient commercial sources of such substances: the marine diatom C. closterium and the cyanobacterium spirulina.
Fucoxanthin was obtained from C. closterium in crystalline form, and its structure was confirmed by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance. From spirulina, a complex of two yellow carotenoid pigments with protein was isolated, without chromatography.
According to the authors, fucoxanthin makes up to 78 % of all carotenoids of C. closterium, or 1.7 % of dry weight. Its biomass contains up to 40 % fatty acids, 22 % of them polyunsaturated. The purity of fucoxanthin after recrystallization is up to 99 % of the main form. In spirulina, the complex of two carotenoids makes up 0.76 % of dry weight.
The work briefly shows which pigments can be obtained from these two cultures and in what amounts.
Limitations. This is a conference abstract: without a description of the growth conditions, methods or statistics. The effect of the pigments on the body was not studied in the work; mentions of it are the authors' references to the literature.