Chapter 5 – Natural Antioxidants From Algae: A Therapeutic Perspective

Oxidative stress affects human through several health disorders by damaging the life-vital macromolecules irreversibly. Nature have devised inherent defense system, comprises of several antioxidants, to fight against oxidative stress in various organisms. The concept—“the exogenous antioxidant can be used to boost up the endogenous defense system in combating oxidative stress”—has opened up the new direction in therapeutics of oxidative stress–mediated diseases. Marine environment pressurized the evolution of their inhabiting life forms to produce the series of bioactive biomolecules. Specifically, marine-algae and cyanobacteria have been identified as a rich source of structurally diverse biomolecules. Of which, many have been recognized to bear the great antioxidant activity. The prospective applications of these natural antioxidants in therapeutics of various physiological anomalies including aging, neurodegeneration and cancer have been widely studied. Present chapter summarizes an overall updates in the field of “the algal antioxidants” and their promising application in pharmaceutical and biomedical research.