ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIPROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITIES OF EXTRACTS OF SELECTED RED AND BROWN SEAWEEDS FROM THE MANDAPAM COAST OF TAMIL NADU

Antioxidant and antiproliferative activities were examined for methanol (M), chloroform (C), ethyl acetate (E) and aqueous (A) extracts of Turbinaria ornata, Kappaphycus alvarezii, Acanthophora spicifera and Gracilaria corticata, using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, beta-carotene bleaching inhibition, ferrous ion chelation, total reducing activity and resazurin-based growth inhibition (in A549, HCT-15, MG-63 and PC-3 cell lines) assays. Higher growth inhibition was observed in A549 and MG-63 cells with higher values of total flavonoid content, DPPH radical scavenging and total reducing activities, and in PC-3 cells with higher beta-carotene bleaching inhibition. Positive correlation (P<0.05) was observed between total phenolic content and total reducing activity. Although all seaweeds have been examined for antioxidant and brine shrimp cytotoxic activities, and for some, in some cancer cell lines, this is the first report of growth inhibition in the cell lines chosen for this study that represent highly prevalent cancers.