Secondary metabolites and their biological activities in Indonesian soft coral of the genus Lobophytum

Objective: To investigate the antioxidant, antibacterial, antimalarial activities and cytotoxicity of the n-hexane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and aqueous fractions from a crude extract of Lobophytum sp. Methods: This organism was collected from the Selayar Islands (South Sulawesi). The antioxidant activity was performed by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl radical scavenging method. All fractions from the crude extract of Lobophytum sp. were examined for their cytotoxicity using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay and heme polymerization inhibitory activity assay for antimalarial activity. Results: It was found that the ethyl acetate, n-butanol and aqueous fractions exhibited heme polymerization inhibitory activity with IC50 values of 11.7, 14.3 and 12.0 mu g/mL, respectively, while the n-butanol fraction showed moderate antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 150.00 and 92.74 mu g/mL, respectively. Conclusions: This study provides information on antioxidant, antibacterial and antimalarial activities as well as the cytotoxicity of all fractions from the crude extract of Lobophytum sp. This is a new report of antimalarial substances derived from Lobophytum sp.