Cyanobacteria - sources of bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties

In recent decades, the interest of researchers towards cyanobacteria and algae has increased not only as functional foods or nutraceuticals, but also as sources of natural bioactive components with beneficial health effects, which would serve as an alternative to synthetic drugs, as well as to broaden the spectrum of natural remedies used in the prevention and combating of some diseases. This review presents the results of recent research on the world map regarding the identification of bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity produced by algae and cyanobacteria, analyzed the methods of determining the antioxidant activity of different biochemical compounds classes, as well as the species of cyanobacteria with a rich content of substances with antioxidant effects in order to evaluate the cyanobacterial strains of biotechnological interest and the preparations obtained based on them with high antioxidant activity.