Glycolipids from macroalgae: potential biomolecules for marine biotechnology?

Brown, red and green algae from the Southeastern coast of Brazil were successively extracted with chloroform/methanol 2:1 and 1:2 (v/v). The crude lipid extract was partitioned according to Folch and the lower phase enriched in glycolipids was fractionated on a silica gel column chromatography eluted with chloroform, acetone and methanol. Three major orcinol-reactive bands present in the acetone and methanol fractions were detected by thin-layer chromatography with chromatographic mobilities corresponding to sulfoglycolipids and glycosyldiacylglycerols. These fractions exhibited potent antiviral activity against HSV-1-ACVs and HSV-1-ACVr and present low toxicity for cell cultures. Purification and identification of these bioactive glycolipids will be necessary in order to elucidate their primary structures and mechanism of action.