Brown Seaweed Egregia menziesii’s Cytotoxic Activity against Brain Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

Brown seaweeds contain bioactive compounds that show anti-tumorigenic effects. These characteristics have been repeatedly observed in the Lessoniaceae family. Egregia menziesii, a member of this family, is distributed in the North Pacific and its properties have been barely studied. We evaluated herein the cytotoxic and anti-proliferative activity of extracts of this seaweed, through toxicity assay in Artemia salina and lymphocytes, and MTT proliferation assay, in Bergmann glia cells, 3T3-L1 and brain cancer cell lines. E. menziesii’s extracts inhibited the spread of all the tested cell lines. The hexane extract showed the highest cytotoxic activity, while the methanol extract was moderately cytotoxic. Interestingly, seaweed extracts displayed a selective inhibition pattern. These results suggest that E. menziesii’s extracts might be good candidates for cancer prevention and the development of novel chemotherapies due to its highest cytotoxicity in transformed cells compare to glia primary cultures.

Brown Algae Potential as a Functional Food against Hypercholesterolemia: Review

“…It is also necessary to take into account that post-harvesting storage and processing, such as extraction using different solvents (water, organic solvent, water–organic solvent mixtures) can also affect the composition of the obtained algae extract [ 51 ]. These algae species have been intensively studied not only for their anti-hyperlipidaemic activity [ 52 , 53 ], but also for their anti-tumorigenic [ 54 , 55 ], anti-diabetic [ 56 , 57 ], antiviral [ 58 ], anti-inflammatory [ 59 , 60 ], and antioxidant [ 48 , 60 ] capacities, among others.…”

“…Different in vivo studies, summarized in Table 2 , have reported the hypocholesterolemic effect of different brown algae species [ 10 , 14 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ]. In studies where brown algae extracts were used for diet supplementation or in oral administration, it was reported that, in general, there is a decrease in Tc, TG, and LDL-c levels and an increase in HDL-c levels.…”

Marine Alkaloids with Anti-Inflammatory Activity: Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives

“…The marine biome is currently one of the largest sources of biologically active compounds, offering a great possibility of bioprospecting for new pharmacological treatments [6]. Micro-and macroalgae are organisms with great potential for bioprospecting marine natural products and are rich sources of compounds with already characterized antimicrobial, antitumor, anticoagulant, and anti-inflammatory activity [111][112][113][114]. Among these compounds, alkaloid have great biological potential.…”

Seaweeds: An Extensive Review of Medicinal Values

“…Compounds from natural sources with anti-proliferative activity represent an important and novel alternative to treat several types of cancer. Egregia menziesii (brown seaweed) ( Figure 6) [131], Portieria hornemannii [132], Grateloupia elliptica [133] Sargassum serratifolium [134], Chitosan alginate (polysaccharide from seaweeds) [135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143], xanthophylls (astaxanthin, fucoxanthin) and Phlorotannins (phloroglucinol) obtained from the microalgae [144][145][146][147][148][149][150][151][152][153][154][155], are reported in brain tumor (glioblastoma) studies. astaxanthin and fucoxanthin are major marine carotenoids.…”