Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, and Anti-Tumor Activities of Sargassum linearifolium and Cystoseira crinita from Egyptian Mediterranean Coast

Abstract

Brown algae earned importance by virtue of their promising secondary metabolites of reasonable biological activities. Herein, the antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer effects of crude extracts obtained from two Egyptian brown seaweeds, Sargassum linearifolium and Cystoseira crinita were evaluated. Phytochemical and GC-MS analyses revealed numerous active secondary metabolites in C. crinita cold methanolic extract (CCME) and S. linearifolium hot aqueous extract (SHAE). Both SHAE and CCME exhibited comparable DPPH (124.5 vs 125.6 µg/ml) and ABTS (257.1 vs 254.8 µg/ml) scavenging activities, respectively. Moreover, both crude extracts exhibited antimicrobial activity against various pathogenic microorganisms. Interestingly, employing MTT assay revealed cytotoxic effects of both extracts against a panel of cancer cells, where CCME showed a strong cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cells (IC₅₀ = 18.0 ± 0.74 µg/ml), while SHAE exhibited a moderate effect (IC₅₀ = 31.1 ± 1.04 µg/ml). Increased mRNA and protein expression of Bax and Beclin-1 as well as the decreased expression of Bcl-2 revealed the ability of both extracts to induce apoptosis and autophagy in MCF-7 cells. Collectively, these findings provide evidence for antioxidant, antimicrobial, as well as anticancer effects driven by the two brown seaweeds that may underlay their plausible application in the therapeutic uses.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their thanking and appreciation to Dr. Mona M. Ismail, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Kayet Bay, Alexandria, 21556, Egypt, for her assistance and efforts in the confirmation of the seaweed species taxonomy and drawing the sampling area map.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.