Optimización del proceso de extracción de compuestos fenólicos de la angiosperma marina Thalassia testudinum

Thalassia testudinum is the marine plant of greatest abundance along the coast of Havana and the Caribbean in general, commonly known as seagrass meadows or turtle grass. Among the compounds of interest that can be found in this species there are polyphenols, which are structural components of its cell wall and have functional and bioactive properties such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and hepatoprotective. Previous research evaluated different methods of extracting bioactive compounds from this species, and this work aimed to optimize the extraction conditions of the total polyphenol content. For this, the Box and Hunter method was used and the effect of three influential factors in the extraction of phenolic compounds (agitation speed, vegetal material / solvent ratio and ethanol concentration) was evaluated. The total polyphenol content determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method was used as a response variable. The design results provided as optimal conditions in the studied variables the following: 1/11.5 w: v, 60% EtOH and 800 r.p.m., reaching a total polyphenol yield of 25.60 mg/g of dry extract; which contributes to the obtaining of a better content of total phenols in a bioactive extract with potentialities of use in the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical industries.