The objectives of this study were to employ response surface methodology (RSM) to investigate and optimize the effect of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) variables, temperature, time and amplitude on the yields of polysaccharides (fucose and total glucans) and antioxidant activities (ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl radical scavenging activity (DPPH)) from Laminariadigitata, and to explore the suitability of applying the optimum UAE conditions for L.digitata to other brown macroalgae (L.hyperborea and Ascophyllumnodosum). The RSM with three-factor, four-level Box-Behnken Design (BBD) was used to study and optimize the extraction variables. A second order polynomial model fitted well to the experimental data with R² values of 0.79, 0.66, 0.64, 0.73 for fucose, total glucans, FRAP and DPPH, respectively. The UAE parameters studied had a significant influence on the levels of fucose, FRAP and DPPH. The optimised UAE conditions (temperature = 76 °C, time = 10 min and amplitude = 100%) achieved yields of fucose (1060.7 ± 70.6 mg/100 g dried seaweed (ds)), total glucans (968.6 ± 13.3 mg/100 g ds), FRAP (8.7 ± 0.5 µM trolox/mg freeze-dried extract (fde)) and DPPH (11.0 ± 0.2%) in L.digitata. Polysaccharide rich extracts were also attained from L.hyperborea and A. nodosum with variable results when utilizing the optimum UAE conditions for L.digitata.
Keywords: DPPH; FRAP; fucoidan; innovative technology; laminarin; optimization; seaweed; ultrasound-assisted extraction.