Antigenotoxic ketosteroid from the red algae Jania adhaerens

Abstract

A new ketosteroid, 6β,16β-dihydroxycholest-4-en-3-one (1), in addition to the known 6β-hydroxycholest-4-en-3-one (2), 6β-hydroxycholest-4,22-dien-3-one (3) and 16β-hydroxy-5α-cholestan-3,6-dione (4), was isolated from the red alga Jania adhaerens. The structures were assigned on the basis of ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR experiments. The new compound (1) was evaluated for its genotoxic and cytotoxic activities and found to possess protective antigenotoxicity in human peripheral blood cells.

Keywords:

• Red Sea
• red algae
• Jania adhaerens
• ketosteroid
• single cell gel electrophoresis
• comet test
• DNA breaks
• MNNG

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Mr Zaki El-Assouli for the bioassay analysis. Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), King Abdulaziz University, is also acknowledged for providing financial support (grant no. 8-003/429). The two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on the manuscript.