Anticancer and antimicrobial activity of three different seaweed extracts

Abstract

In the present study, antimicrobial and in vitro cytotoxic activities of three seaweeds Gracilaria corticata (red algae), Ulva lactuca (green algae) and Sargassum ilicifolium (brown algae) were reported. Among the three algal extracts screened for antibacterial activity, the acetone extract of all the three algae showed moderate antibacterial activity on Gram positive bacteria S. aureus and B. subtilis and Gram negative bacteria E. coli and P. aeruginosa but no activity was observed on M. luteus and S. typhi. The cytotoxic activity of three seaweeds was studied using MTT assay on MCF-7 cell lines. G.corticata showed highest inhibition percent (51.13±0.25) when compared to U. lactuca (35.63±0.70) and S. ilicifolium (31.56±0.54). Among the three solvents tested, methanol was found to be the most suitable solvent for the extraction of compounds.