Microalgae as the source of natural products

More than 90% of herbal products and herbal medicines have been derived from higher plants recently, but due to independent circumstances, several photosynthetic microalgal species are in focus in this point of view. In the last 50 years, many carbohydrate-, peptide-, terpenoid-, alkaloid- and phenol-type components were described from algae because of the developing structural determination and analytical methods, algae mass production and also artificial algae technologies. At the same time, based partly on traditional causes and partly on the clinical and preclinical data of today, some dried products of algae are directly used as food supplements. Hereinafter, the historical background, economic significance and metabolic background of the mostly used microalgal species will be reviewed. The diverse metabolite production of these organisms will be demonstrated by some molecules with special bioactivity. Several preclinical and clinical studies will be described relating to the microalgal species Spirulina sp., Chlorella sp., Haematococcus sp. and Dunaliella sp.