Analgesic and neuromodulatory effects of sea anemone Stichodactyla mertensii (Brandt, 1835) methanolic extract from southeast coast of India

Abstract

The biological activity of crude methanolic extract (CME) of sea anemone Stichodactyla mertensii was screened. The CME was fractionated using diethylaminoethyl (DEAE – cellulose) and screened for hemolytic activity, mice bioassay, analegsic activity and neuromodulatory activity. The presence of protein was estimated to be 0.292 mg/ml in crude, followed by 0.153, 0.140 and 0.092 mg/ml in Fractions 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The crude extract and 3 fractions showed the hemolytic activity of 109.58, 52.28, 57.14, 43.47 HT/mg on chicken blood, while in human blood it was recorded as 27.39 and 26.14 HT/mg in crude and F1 fraction and 26.14, 28.57 HT/mg in F1, F2 fractions of ‘AB’ and ‘O’ blood groups. Whereas the F2 and F3 fractions in ‘AB’ group and F3 fraction alone in ‘O’ group did not show any activity. The lethal dose 50% (LD50) in mice was found to be 108.24 mg/kg in the crude extract. The crude extract and the active fractions reported moderate analgesic activity at 93.75 mg/kg concentration. The impact of sea anemone crude extract was found to increase neuromodulatory activity in Na + K + ATP-ase at 86 to 91%, Mg ++ ATP-ase at 266 to 438% and AChE at 67 to 24% activities, though the study has provided some justification of sea anemone extract which showed moderate hemolytic activity and prompt analgesic activity, as well as acting variably on the presynaptic sodium pump and promoting the cholinesterase activity.