Cytotoxic Potentials of Red Alga, Laurencia brandenii Collected from the Indian Coast

Abstract

Abstract: In the present study, red algae Laurencia brandenii from the southwest coast of India was extracted and fractionated in column chromatography using different solvent systems. The fractions were evaluated for brine shrimp cytotoxicity and hatchability assay using Artemia salina. The fraction eluted with petroleum:chloroform (6:4) exhibited excellent activity in both assays was subjected to GC-MS (Hewlett Packard) analysis. At a dose level 200 µg/ml the active fraction of algae elicited 100 % hatching inhibition, whereas in toxicity assay it showed a LD value of 93 µg/ml. which might have cytotoxic activity. The fatty acid50 composition of active fraction revealed that the main acid was 9,12-Octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)- (49.75 %) followed by n-Hexadecanoic acid (14.24 %) which might have functional role in biological activity. Key words: Laurencia brandenii Artemia salina Cytotoxic activity Brine shrimp hatchability assay INTRODUCTION extracts [7]. A number of studies have demonstrated the According to Cragg et al. [1] drugs derived from from different geographical region [8, 9, 10]. Southwest unmodified natural products or drugs semi-synthetically coast of India is endowed with rich diversity of marine obtained from marine natural sources corresponded to algae with varies biological activities [11]. Studies