Biological and therapeutic potential of the edible brown marine seaweed Padina australis and their pharmacological mechanisms

Seaweeds have an important place in the ancient systems of medicine. In addition, they also find significant mention in farming and in nutritional diet due to their benefits such as, availability, cheaper price, renewable potential and the advantage of being easily accessible. There are over 10,000 species of seaweeds that reflect their immense diversity. They are further used for both, their flavour and nutritional properties. Edible seaweeds are rich sources of bioactive compounds. In the last three decades, the discovery of metabolites with biological activities from macroalgae has increased significantly. Padina australis has been reported to possess several therapeutic activities including, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and larvicidal effects. In addition, studies have also reported on the antidiabetic and antihypertensive potential of Padina australis. Till date, there are limited or no scientific reviews that have been published on the pharmacological and therapeutical activities of Padina australis in specific. Thus, there is a need for such a review to appreciate the various biological actions of this potent seaweed. This review, in this direction, attempts to explore the various therapeutic activities of the brown marine seaweed Padina australis, from the current published literature along with their pharmacological and molecular mechanisms, underlying its therapeutic activities. The main limitation of this review is that ancient texts, leisure magazines and traditional manuscripts were not searched.