Development of Bioactive Peptides Derived from Red Algae for Dermal Care Applications: Recent Advances

Bioactive peptides produced from proteinaceous red algae biomass with varied structures have garnered much attention in biological applications and production. Unfortunately, there have been few studies on developing approaches to feasible bioactive peptide production and purification. Our goal with this article is to explore the latest trends in easily applicable approaches for extracting bioactive peptides for cutaneous applications. Bibliometric statistics show that the number of scientific publications is growing, with Asia ranking as the highest producer. Peptide purity and bioactivity are the most important factors to consider while extracting and identifying peptides using various separation techniques. To generate novel bioactive peptides with high yield and low cost, future research should focus on increasing the yields and improving the separation methods. Moreover, human clinical trials should be conducted to validate their potential health benefits. Thus, the final objective of this literature review was to give an insight into the bioactive properties of red algae-derived peptides, which have proven potential for dermal application with anti-melanogenic, collagenogenic, antioxidant, antiaging, and photoprotective activities, etc. Moreover, it covers the algal peptides’ scope for use in nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, and future studies for their emerging applications.