Phytochemical Analysis, Antibacterial and Antioxidant Potential of Marine Red Seaweed Caulacanthusustulatus

Abstract

Marine algae are known to produce a wide variety of bioactive secondary metabolites and several compounds have been derived from them for prospective development of novel drugs by the pharmaceutical industries. The marine red seaweed Caulacanthusustulatus, collected from the Kilakarai region located between (9.23135° N, 78.7844° E) Ramanathapuram District, Tamil Nadu, India. The seaweed extract was prepared from various solvent extracts namely aqueous, ethanol, methanol and acetone was tested for their phytochemical analysis, antibacterial activity against human pathogens viz., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus and aquatic pathogens viz., Aeromonas hydrophila and Vibrio vulnificus using disc diffusion methods and in vitro antioxidant activity such as DPPH radical scavenging activity, ABTS radical scavenging activity and Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity of selected solvent extracts. Phytochemical analysis of sixteen different chemical compounds was carried out. The maximum nine phytochemical compounds were present in the methanol and ethanol extracts and the minimum six compounds were present in aqueous extract. The highest antibacterial activity was present in human pathogen P. aeruginosa (20.66 ± 1.1mm) likewise the aquatic pathogen the antibacterial activity was increase in Aeromonas hydrophila (20.33 ± 1.5mm). The methanol extract was significantly higher in DPPH radical scavenging activity (67.07 ± 0.5μg/ml), ABTS radical scavenging activity (72.4 ± 0.6 μg/ml) and Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity (54.06 ± 0.58μg/ml). This study indicates the potential use of red seaweed; in particularC.ustulatus extracts are treating human and aquatic bacterial pathogens and it could be a potential candidate for the natural compounds as antioxidant.