Hypotensive, hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic effects of bioactive compounds from microalgae and marine micro-organisms

Microalgae and marine micro-organisms (MMs) have received increasing attention for the production of biologically active compounds due to their exclusive characteristics, which have adapted to the specific and extreme conditions of environments. These micro-organisms are of considerable importance as newand promising potential sources of a huge number of natural bioactive compounds for functional foods and pharmaceutical development. Important natural bioactive compounds exhibiting a wide range of activities such as antimicrobial, antitumour, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antituberculosis, antiparasitic, anthelmintic, antimalarial, antiprotozoal, anticoagulant and antiplatelet effects have recently been isolated. To date, only a small number of MMs have been investigated for hypotensive, hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic activities. This study focuses specifically on revealing and discussing prospective human applications of MMs on functional foods and clinical practice and their metabolites associated with hypotensive, hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic activities.