Cytotoxic Activity Assessment and GC-MS Screening of Two Codium Species Extracts

Various solvent extracts from two marine green algae, Codium bursa and Codium fragile collected from the North Tunisian coasts during spring and summer seasons were used to obtain high dry matter yields. The algal extracts showed the great power of in vitro cell growth inhibition against Hela cells, which was confirmed by MTT test. The comparative efficiency of different polarity solvents showed that methanolic extract with high-polarity composition had significantly more important yield than petrol ether extracts, while the higher inhibition activity was obtained with petrol ether extract from C. bursa (IC50= 115.755 μg/mL). Moreover, it showed a seasonal variation that revealed the most important activity during the season of spring as compared to summer. Flash chromatography of the petrol ether extract and GC-MS analysis of its most active fraction revealed a total of six major compounds well-known in medicinal plants: 6,10,14-trimethyl-2-pentadecanone; 2-dodecanone; 1-dodecanol; dodecyl acrylate; formic acid 3,7,11-trimethyl-1,6,10-dodecatrien-3-yl ester; and bicyclo[4.4.0]dec-2-ene-4-ol 2-methyl-9-(prop-1-en-3-ol-2-yl).