Marine organisms, including seagrasses, are important sources of biologically active molecules for the treatment of human diseases. In this study, organic extracts of the marine seagrass Halophila stipulacea obtained by different polarities from leaves (L) and stems (S) (hexane [HL, HS], ethyl acetate [EL, ES], and methanol [ML, MS]) were tested for different bioactivities. The screening comprehended the cytotoxicity activity against cancer cell lines grown as a monolayer culture or as multicellular spheroids (cancer), glucose uptake in cells (diabetes), reduction of lipid content in fatty acid-overloaded liver cells (steatosis), and lipid-reducing activity in zebrafish larvae (obesity), as well as the antifouling activity against marine bacteria (microfouling) and mussel larval settlement (macrofouling). HL, EL, HS, and ES extracts showed statistically significant cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines. The extracts did not have any significant effect on glucose uptake and on the reduction of lipids in liver cells. The EL and ML extracts reduced neutral lipid contents on the larvae of zebrafish with EC50 values of 2.2 µg/mL for EL and 1.2 µg/mL for ML. For the antifouling activity, the HS and ML extracts showed a significant inhibitory effect (p < 0.05) against the settlement of Mytilus galloprovincialis plantigrade larvae. The metabolite profiling using HR-LC-MS/MS and GNPS (The Global Natural Product Social Molecular Networking) analyses identified a variety of known primary and secondary metabolites in the extracts, along with some unreported molecules. Various compounds were detected with known activities on cancer (polyphenols: Luteolin, apeginin, matairesinol), on metabolic diseases (polyphenols: cirsimarin, spiraeoside, 2,4-dihydroxyheptadec-16-ynyl acetate; amino acids: N-acetyl-L-tyrosine), or on antifouling (fatty acids: 13-decosenamide; cinnamic acids: 3-hydroxy-4-methoxycinnamic acid, alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic), which could be, in part, responsible for the observed bioactivities. In summary, this study revealed that Halophila stipulacea is a rich source of metabolites with promising activities against obesity and biofouling and suggests that this seagrass could be useful for drug discovery in the future.
Phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity of flowers decoction at post-flowering stage (F3D) of Opuntia dejecta were determined. The obtained findings demonstrate that F3D has a marked antioxidant activity in all tested assays. Furthermore, the present study was designed to test the protective activity of F3D against induced Diabetes type 2 (DT2) in male rats. Those metabolic syndromes were induced by a high-fructose diet (HFD) (10% fructose solution) for a period of 20 weeks. F3D was administered orally (100 and 300 mg/kg body weight) daily for the last 4 weeks. Metformin (150 mg/kg body weight) was used as a standard drug and administrated orally for the last 4 weeks. The results showed a significant increase in blood glucose, triglycerides and hepatic markers (ALAT, ASAT and ALK-P) in HFD group. A significant increase in hepatic TBARS and a significant decrease in SOD, CAT and GPX were observed in fructose fed rats compared to control group. Administration of F3D showed a protective effect in biochemical and oxidative stress parameters measured in this study. Also, oral administration of F3D restored the histological architecture of rat liver in comparison with rats fed HFD. In conclusion, F3D attenuated hepatic oxidative stress in fructose-fed rats.
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