Seaweeds are traditional chinese medicines with abundant medicinal and pharmacological properties
1K.R. Padma, 2K.R. Don, 3M. Reshma Anjum and 3M. Sankari
1Department of Biotechnology, Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam (Women’s) University, Tirupati-517502 (India) Orcid no:0000-0002-6783-3248 2Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Sree Balaji Dental College and Hospital, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research (BIHER) Bharath University, Chennai-600126 (India) Orcid No: 0000-0003-3110-8076. 3Department of Biotechnology, Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam (Women’s) University, Tirupati-517502 (India) (Corresponding Author) Email id: thulasipadi@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
From past 3 epochs, seaweeds are having utmost recognition because of the properties they provide us for healthy leading lifestyle. Sea is abode for vast variety of marine species and represented as a huge storage of pharmacologically important algae. The marine species are chief organisms embedded with novel bioactive compounds from which natural molecules can be extracted and tested for its toxicity before being used as therapeutic substance. Amongst various marine species, seaweeds have attained much importance for their medicinal properties and revealed to have their antioxidative, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic and anti-tumor actions. Investigations have been done individually in various cases in respect to their necessity. Several resource databases, literature data also revealed that seaweeds obtained from marine algae such as Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta are abundant with medicinal properties and currently several pharmaceutical companies started using this resource for development of drugs against tumors, cancers, AIDS, and Corona virus. Currently, our article will provide broad insights on remedial along with pharmacological actions and specific emphasis on the current pandemic disease with respect to the mechanism of action and future directions for researchers.