Tecnologico de Monterrey, School of Engineering and Sciences, Monterrey 64849, Mexico.
Tecnologico de Monterrey, Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing, Monterrey 64849, Mexico.
Mar Drugs. 2022 Jul 28;20(8):487. doi: 10.3390/md20080487.
Microalgae are photosynthetic organisms known for producing valuable metabolites under different conditions such as extreme temperatures, high salinity, osmotic pressure, and ultraviolet radiation. In recent years, these metabolites have become a trend due to their versatility in applications such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and others. They have even been proposed as an alternative source of bioactive metabolites to avoid the harmful effects on the environment produced by active compounds such as oxybenzone in commercials sunscreens. One of the most studied applications is the use of microalgae for skin care and topical use as cosmeceuticals. With the increasing demand for more environmentally friendly products in cosmetics, microalgae have been further explored in relation to this application. It has been shown that some microalgae are resistant to UV rays due to certain compounds such as mycosporine-like amino acids, sporopollenin, scytonemin, and others. These compounds have different mechanisms of action to mitigate UV damage induced. Still, they all have been proven to confer UV tolerance to microalgae with an absorbance spectrum like the one in conventional sunscreens. This review focuses on the use of these microalgae compounds obtained by UV stimulation and takes advantage of their natural UV-resistant characteristics to potentially apply them as an alternative for UV protection products.
微藻是一种光合作用的生物体，以在不同条件下产生有价值的代谢物而闻名，例如极端温度、高盐度、渗透压和紫外线辐射。近年来，由于其在制药、化妆品等领域的多功能性，这些代谢物成为一种趋势。它们甚至被提议作为替代生物活性代谢物的来源，以避免商业防晒霜中氧苯酮等活性化合物对环境的有害影响。研究最多的应用之一是将微藻用于皮肤护理和局部使用作为化妆品。随着对化妆品中更环保产品的需求不断增加，人们进一步探索了微藻在这一应用中的作用。已经表明，由于某些化合物，如菌孢氨酸类似氨基酸、孢粉素、Scytonemin 等，某些微藻能抵抗紫外线。这些化合物具有不同的作用机制来减轻紫外线诱导的损伤。然而，它们都被证明能赋予微藻紫外线耐受性，其吸收光谱与传统防晒霜相似。这篇综述重点介绍了通过紫外线刺激获得的这些微藻化合物的用途，并利用其天然的耐紫外线特性，将其作为紫外线防护产品的替代品。
