Isolation of pigments from sea-anemones, Heteractis magnifica (Quoy and Gaimard, 1833) and Stichodactyla haddoni (Kent, 1893) and their effects against aquatic and human bacterial pathogens

Abstract

ObjectiveTo screen inhibitory activity of pigments extracted from two sea-anemones, Heteractis magnifica (H. magnifica) and Stichodactyla haddoni (S. haddoni) against 10 aquatic and 10 human bacterial pathogens. MethodsCrude pigment were extracted by using acetone solvent and the pigment extracts were fractionated into 7 for H. magnifica and 5 for S. haddoni by using silica gel column chromatography and also tested for the antibacterial activity using Agar welldiffusion method. ResultsThe 3rd fraction of H. magnifica and 2nd fraction of S. haddoni displayed higher activity against eight aquatic bacterial pathogens and seven human bacterial pathogens. ConclusionsThe 3rd fraction of H. magnifica showed higher antibacterial activity than the crude pigment extracts and other fractions of H. magnifica and S. haddoni. Thus the sea-anemone Heteractis magnifica is promising for further exploration of antibacterial drugs.