The presence of phenolic compounds in isolated cell walls of brown algae

We isolated the cell walls of Hormosira banksii (Turner) Decaisne (Hormosiraceae) and Phyllospora comosa (Labillardière) C. Agardh zygotes and used light and electron microscopy to study the presence of phenolic deposits in these walls. The isolated walls had little contaminating cellular debris. Phenolic compounds are an important component of brown algal cell walls and are conspicuous toward the inside of the isolated walls. These compounds stain with toluidine Blue O, neutral red, fast red GG, osmium tetroxide, and those in Hormosira autofluoresce. Wall isolation is the important first step in the process of chemical analysis of polyphenolic compounds present in these walls. This is the first paper to describe the presence of phenolic components in isolated cell walls of brown algae.