Antioxidant Potential of Oil Shrimp Shells Extracts

Introduction: Shrimp shells are an abundant by-product of the seafood industry and are frequently discarded, contributing to environmental concerns. Nevertheless, they contain valuable bioactive compounds with potential antioxidant properties. This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant activity of shrimp shell extracts obtained using sunflower oil and to assess their potential as sustainable sources of natural antioxidants.

Methods: Shrimp shells were collected, cleaned, dried, and subjected to ultrasound-assisted extraction using sunflower oil as the extraction medium. The antioxidant activity of the resulting extracts was evaluated using the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assays. Results were expressed as percentage of radical scavenging activity and compared with ascorbic acid used as a reference antioxidant.

Results: The shrimp shell extracts demonstrated substantial radical scavenging activity at the tested concentrations. In the DPPH assay, the extract showed 82.15 ± 0.33% radical scavenging activity at 5.4 µg/mL, whereas ascorbic acid reached 31.75 ± 0.84% at the same concentration. In the ABTS assay, the extract exhibited 51.78 ± 0.31% radical scavenging activity at 3.90 µg/mL, compared with 44.61 ± 0.92% for the reference antioxidant at the same concentration.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the antioxidant potential of shrimp shell extracts obtained using sunflower oil and support the valorization of shrimp-processing by-products as sources of natural bioactive compounds. The results provide a basis for further development of these extracts through their incorporation into nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC), with the aim of exploring their potential for cosmetic applications.