Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Trans-Himalayan Alga Spirogyra porticalis (Muell.) Cleve

Abstract

The freshwater alga Spirogyra porticalis (Muell.) Cleve, a filamentous charophyte, collected from the Indian trans-Himalayan cold desert, was identified on the basis of morpho-anatomical characters. Extracts of this alga were made using solvents of varying polarity viz. n-hexane, acetonitrile, methanol and water. The antioxidant capacities and phenolic profile of the extracts were estimated. The methanol extract showing highest antioxidant capacity and rich phenolic attributes was further investigated and phytochemical profiling was conducted by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) hyphenated technique. The cytotoxic activity of methanol extract was evaluated on human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 and colon carcinoma RKO cell lines. The anti-hypoxic effect of methanol extract of the alga was tested on in vivo animal system to confirm its potential to ameliorate oxidative stress. The antioxidant assays viz. ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging capacities, β-carotene-linoleic acid bleaching property and lipid peroxidation exhibited analogous results, wherein the algal extracts showed significantly high antioxidant potential. The extracts were also found to possess high content of total proanthocyanidin, flavonoid and polyphenol. GC/MS analysis revealed the presence of thirteen chemotypes in the methanol extract representing different phytochemical groups like fatty acid esters, sterols, unsaturated alcohols, alkynes etc. with substantial phyto-pharmaceutical importance. The methanol extract was observed to possess anticancer activity as revealed from studies on HepG2 and RKO cell lines. In the present study, S. porticalis methanol extract also provided protection from hypoxia-induced oxidative stress and accelerated the onset of adaptative changes in rats during exposure to hypobaric hypoxia. The bioactive phytochemicals present in this trans-Himalayan alga are of enormous interest and can be utilized sustainably for discovery of novel drugs against oxidative stress.

Protective effects of Phyllanthus phillyreifolius extracts against hydrogen peroxide induced oxidative stress in HEK293 cells

“…It should be noted that AC extract displayed better intracellular antioxidant activity too. These findings clearly indicate that extraction solvents should be selected individually for each plant source; for instance, numerous previously performed studies showed that high polarity methanolic extracts were the most effective in terms of recovery of polyphenols and antioxidant potential of the extracts obtained [ 27 , 28 ].…”

Nutraceutical profile and evidence of alleviation of oxidative stress by Spirogyra porticalis (Muell.) Cleve inhabiting the high altitude Trans-Himalayan Region

“…The focus areas of these studies revolve around identification and exploration of trans-Himalayan flora, elucidation of genetic diversity and its characterization, ethnobotanical survey, evaluation of phytochemical, medicinal and pharmacological properties etc. The diversity and medicinal properties of plants and lichens of this region has been previously reported 1 , 2 . However, limited information is available on the prophylactic and therapeutic potential of algal species inhabiting the trans-Himalayan cold desert region.…”

“…Over the decades, oxidative stress has been recognized as a prime contributing factor in the origin of many diseases. Extensive research points out that ingestion of herbal supplement(s) is linked to a reduced risk of numerous diseases 5 and therapeutic impact of the phytoproducts have been partly assigned to the natural, non-toxic, medicinal as well as antioxidant compounds 1 , 2 , 6 . Being a good source of natural antioxidants, algae are also utilized by medicinal chemists for designing novel pharmaceutical products as a remedy for oxidative stress-induced maladies 2 , 7 , 8 .…”

Culture of Spirogyra sp. in a flat-panel airlift photobioreactor

“…Researchers also found strong antibacterial activity of methanolic extract made from Spirogyra micropunctata against several multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens (Alshididi and Jawad 2015). These findings suggest, that Spirogyra could be used for the development of new drugs and as a source of natural antioxidants (Dash et al 2014;Kumar et al 2015) and antimicrobial agents (Alshididi and Jawad 2015).…”