Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination
We are sorry, but NCBI web applications do not support your browser and may not function properly. More information
    Mar Drugs. 2011;9(7):1166-75. doi: 10.3390/md9071166. Epub 2011 Jun 27.

    Marine carotenoids and cardiovascular risk markers.

    Source

    Cardiology Unit, San Camillo de Lellis Hospital, via Isonzo, Manfredonia, Foggia 71043, Italy. griccioni@hotmail.com

    Abstract

    Marine carotenoids are important bioactive compounds with physiological activities related to prevention of degenerative diseases found principally in plants, with potential antioxidant biological properties deriving from their chemical structure and interaction with biological membranes. They are substances with very special and remarkable properties that no other groups of substances possess and that form the basis of their many, varied functions and actions in all kinds of living organisms. The potential beneficial effects of marine carotenoids have been studied particularly in astaxanthin and fucoxanthin as they are the major marine carotenoids. Both these two carotenoids show strong antioxidant activity attributed to quenching singlet oxygen and scavenging free radicals. The potential role of these carotenoids as dietary anti-oxidants has been suggested to be one of the main mechanisms for their preventive effects against cancer and inflammatory diseases. The aim of this short review is to examine the published studies concerning the use of the two marine carotenoids, astaxanthin and fucoxanthin, in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

    KEYWORDS:

    astaxanthin, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, free radicals, fucoxantin, marine carotenoids, oxidized LDL

    PMID:
    21822408
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
    PMCID:
    PMC3148495
    Free PMC Article

      Supplemental Content

      Icon for Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) Icon for PubMed Central

      Save items

      Recent activity

      Your browsing activity is empty.

      Activity recording is turned off.

      Turn recording back on

      See more...
      Write to the Help Desk