微藻和蓝藻是类胡萝卜素的丰富来源，因其强大的生物活性而闻名，包括抗氧化、抗癌、抗增殖、抗炎和抗肥胖特性。最近，许多人的兴趣也集中在这些微藻/蓝藻衍生的类胡萝卜素的生物活性上，例如岩藻黄质和β-胡萝卜素可能成为有益的营养保健品，用于治疗或预防人类常见疾病（例如癌症）。这是由于它们特殊的化学结构表现出独特的生物活性功能，其中生物活性的差异可能归因于其分子的不同空间构型。此外，与大型藻类/真菌衍生的相比，它们的丰度和生物可及性使其更广泛地应用于食品和制药行业。本文重点介绍了岩藻黄质和源自微藻和蓝藻的一些类胡萝卜素与人类健康和疾病关系的生物活性的最新研究，重点是它们作为天然抗氧化剂的潜在应用。还对用于诱导微藻/蓝藻培养物产生这些特定类胡萝卜素的各种生物技术方法进行了严格审查。这些成熟的新兴生物技术有望应用于食品和制药行业，以促进微藻和蓝藻衍生的生物活性类胡萝卜素产品的高效生产。

Microalgae and cyanobacteria are a rich source of carotenoids that are well known for their potent bioactivities, including antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-obesity properties. Recently, many interests have also been focused on the biological activities of these microalgae/cyanobacteria-derived carotenoids, such as fucoxanthin and β-carotene potential to be the salutary nutraceuticals, on treating or preventing human common diseases (e.g., cancers). This is due to their special chemical structures that demonstrate unique bioactive functions, in which the biologically active discrepancies might attribute to the different spatial configurations of their molecules. In addition, their abundance and bioaccessibilities make them more popularly applied in food and pharmaceutical industries, as compared to the macroalgal/fungal-derived ones. This review is focused on the recent studies on the bioactivities of fucoxanthin and some carotenoids derived from microalgae and cyanobacteria in relationship with human health and diseases, with emphasis on their potential applications as natural antioxidants. Various biotechnological approaches employed to induce the production of these specific carotenoids from the culture of microalgae/cyanobacteria are also critically reviewed. These well-developed and emerging biotechnologies present promise to be applied in food and pharmaceutical industries to facilitate the efficient manufacture of the bioactive carotenoid products derived from microalgae and cyanobacteria.