LAUSR

Astaxanthin (3,3-dihydroxy-β,β-carotene-4,4-dione) is a ketocarotenoid, oxidized form of β-carotene being responsible for the pink to red pigmentation and widely distributed in aquatic animals such as shrimp, salmon, trout, and lobster (Stepnowski et al., 2005; Higuera-Ciapara et al., 2006; Pu et al., 2011; Ambati et al., 2014). Astaxanthin has important applications in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries and as a source of pigmentation in aquiculture feed (Higuera-Ciapara et al., 2006; Sachindra et al., 2007; Dhankhar et al., 2012; Prameela et al., 2017). The pigment is also considered in medical and biomedical studies and applications due to its biological function as a vitamin A precursor and its high antioxidative effects (Lorenz & Cysewski, 2000; Guerin et al., 2003; Yang et al., 2016; Prameela et al., 2017). Ot has been reported that Astaxanthin has up to 10 times the antioxidant activity of other carotenoids such as zeaxanthin, lutein, canthaxanthin and β-carotene; and 100 times more that of α-tocopherol (Miki, 1991; Naguib, 2000; Silva et al., 2015).