Bio-Prospecting of a Few Brown Seaweeds for Their Cytotoxic and Antioxidant Activities
Figure 4
Brown seaweeds and their role in the prevention of
ROS-mediated cascade of events. SOD, along with CAT and GPX, forms the first
line of the body’s antioxidant enzyme defense mechanisms. Various endogenous
and exogenous factors give rise to oxidative burst, a phenomenon where
superoxide anion radical is the predecessor to majority of ROS and moderator of
oxidative chain reactions, which perpetuates the production of secondary ROS.
In the long term, this can lead to protein peroxidation, lipid peroxidation and
DNA damage within the cell bringing about cell death, carcinogenesis and
mutagenesis. The seaweed extracts inhibit these occurrences by preventing the
production of ROS at key stages and impeding the inception of cancer and other
diseases.
