Optimized extraction of sulfated polysaccharide from brown seaweed Sargassum polycystum and its evaluation for anti-cancer and wound healing potential

Abstract

• Optimized acidic hot water extraction of WSCSPs. • WSCSPs exhibit antioxidant property. • WSCSPs promote wound healing in RAW 264.7 cells. • WSCSPs is not cytotoxic to normal L6 myoblast cells. • WSCSPs induce death of HeLa cancer cells. In the present study, we optimized the extraction of water-soluble crude sulfated polysaccharide (WSCSP) from Sargassum polycystum and its biological activity was investigated. The WSCSP was extracted from S. polycystum by the acidic water extraction method. The Box-Behnken experimental design was used as a tool for the extraction and evaluated in variable conditions extraction temperature as 60 °C, extraction time duration as 60 min, pH 5.0 and acid hot water: algal ratio 1:50 (g/ml) on these conditions, respectively. The use of acid hot water extraction was efficient to obtain a high WSCSP yield (59.80 ± 2.52%) and further characterization and morphology were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and the dynamic light scattering (DLS). WSCSP was shown to possess antioxidant activity, as evident by the DPPH assay. Moreover, WSCSP did not induce any significant cytotoxicity in L6 myoblast normal cell line. WSCSP also triggers wound healing in RAW 264.7 cells. WSCSP also induces significant death of HeLa (cervical cancer) cells, marking its cancer specificity. Hence WSCSP derived from Sargassum polycystum can be used as an anticancer candidate in future.