Anticancer and Antioxidant Activities of Some Algae from Western Libyan Coast

Seaweeds are considered as one of the largest biomassproducers in marine environment that is rich in bioactive metabolites and asource of natural ingredients for functional foods. The potential antioxidantactivity and the potential inhibition of Caco2 cell proliferation, of crudeextracts of: Chlorophyta (Ulva lactuca, and Codium tomentosum),Phaeophyta (Cystoseira crinita, Cystoseira stricta, and Sargassum vulgare), andRhodophyta (Gelidium latifolium, Hypnea musciformis, and Jania rubens) were collected fromwestern Libyan coast and evaluated in vitro. The antioxidant activitywas determined by reducing power and DPPH assays while cell proliferation,morphological changes and the cell cycle arrest were assessed by MTT, invertedlight microscope and flow cytometry methods respectively. The polyphenols andflavonoids rich extracts showed remarkable reducing power and antiradicalproperties. After exposure of Caco2 cells to various concentrations of extracts(50, 100, 150 and 200 μg/mL)especially from brown algae for 72 h, cell proliferation was reducedsignificantly. The antiproliferative effect of algae extracts was correlatedwith their polyphenol and flavonoid contents. Cell cycle analysis furthershowed that cells were arrested in G phases along with an increment in sub-diploidal cellpopulation (sub-G) after extract application. These results imply that seaweedswhich are rich in bioactive compounds may be used in anticancer drug researchprograms. However, further investigations are essential to reveal the molecularmechanisms of the anticancer activities of these algae.