On some toxinological aspects of the starfish Stellaster equestris (Retzius, 1805)

Whole-body extracts in methanol were obtained from the starfish Stellaster equestris. The crude toxin was fractionated stepwise using diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) cellulose column chromatography. The crude toxin was lethal to male albino mice at a dose of 1.00 mL (containing 531.0 µg/mL protein) when injected intraperitoneally (IP) but the toxicity was abolished in all cases except one upon fractionation. The crude toxin and all the adsorbed fractions exhibited potent hemolytic activity on chicken, goat and human blood. However, group B human erythrocytes were resistant to lysis by all fractions and group O by most of the fractions. Paw edema in mice was caused by the crude toxin and all fractions. Pheniramine maleate and piroxicam blocked the toxicity when administered earlier than, or along with, the crude or fractionated toxins but not when administered after the envenomation. Pretreatment with either of these drugs also blocked edema formation

Fatty acid composition of select sea anemones from Mandapam Coast, Tamil Nadu

1232-1237Sea anemones, such as Heteractis magnifica, H. aurora, Stichodactyla haddoni, and S. gigantea, were collected from Mandapam coast, south-east coast of India. The tissue samples were extracted and analyzed by gas chromatography–flame ionization detection using a one-step extraction–methylation method. Totally, 40 fatty acids were identified and confirmed. Among them, palmitic acid (C16:0) was found in all the sea anemones. It was higher in H. aurora (60.53%) than in S. gigantea (23.62%). The highest saturated fatty acid (SFA) content was observed in S. gigantea extract followed by H. magnifica, H. aurora, and S. haddoni. The predominant SFA C16:0N alcohol was present in H. magnifica (22.24%) and S. haddoni (27.79%). Monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) C16:1ω-7 was found in H. magnifica (3.88%) and S. haddoni (8.12%) and saturated fatty acid (SFA) C18:1ω-9 was found in H. aurora extract (3.87%). Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) C18:3ω-6 was found in H. magnifica (3.88%) and C20:4ω-6 was found in S. haddoni (9.49%), H. aurora (12.26%), and S. gigantea (3.47%). The percentage of total fatty acids and SFA was higher in S. gigantea extract, the MUFA was high in H. magnifica, and PUFA was higher in H. aurora than in other sea anemone species. It is presumed that the chief fatty acids present in a particular organ are related to the specific functions of the organ. In all the tissues that were analyzed, SFA levels were higher than MUFA and PUFA. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the fatty acid composition in sea anemones from Indian waters

Evaluation of in vitro antimicrobial property of seaweed (Halimeda tuna) from Tuticorin coast, Tamil Nadu, Southeast coast of India

The seaweed (Halimeda tuna) was examined for antibacterial and antifungal activity in vitro using the well diffusion method, minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration and minimum fungicidal concentration. The activity was against 10 bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella paratyphi, Klebsiella oxytoca, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabillis, Lactobacillus vulgaris, Pseudomonas sp., Klebsiella pneumonia and Vibrio cholerae) and nine fungal strains (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Alternaria alternaria, Candida albicans, Epidermophyton floccossum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, Pencillium sp. and Rhizopus sp.). The methanolic extracts in the present study exhibited a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity compared to the ethanolic and chloroform extracts. Results of the present study confirm the potential use of seaweed extracts as a source of antimicrobial compound.Keywords: Halimeda tuna, minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration, minimum fungicidal concentration, antimicrobial activityAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(3), pp. 284-28

Bioactive potential of sea urchin Temnopleurus toreumaticus from Devanampattinam, Southeast coast of India

The present investigation elucidates the bioactive potential of aqueous extract of sea urchin Temnopleurus toreumaticus. In this investigation biochemical, heamolytic, cytotoxic and FT-IR analysis were followed by standard methods. In biochemical analysis, proteins content 2.70 mgmL-1, total carbohydrates content 2.15 mgmL-1 and total lipids content 0.03 mgmL-1 were showed in aqueous extract of sea urchin. In heamolytic assay, the goat and chicken erythrocytes showed the maximum 64 Hemolytic Unit (HU) and human blood group “A” shows 32 HU, blood group “B” shows 64 HU, blood group “AB” shows 32 HU and blood group “O” shows 128 HU. In cytotoxic study, aqueous extract of sea urchin showed LC50 value 0.12±0.09 mgmL-1 concentration was showed 50% mortality. In antimicrobial assay, maximum zone inhibition 12.26 ± 0.6 mm showed by K. oxytoca and 3.33 ± 0.9 mm showed by Mucor sp. against chloroform extract of sea urchin T. toreumaticus. Thin layer chromatogram showed the spots of Rf values of 0.38, 0.85 cm. The FT-IR study shows the presence of functional groups such as chloroalkanes, bromoalkanes, iodoalkanes, alcohols groups, acids or aromatic ethers, methyl alkyl groups, 1° amines groups and ammonium ions. These results indicate that, sea urchin has remarkable hemolytic and cytotoxic activities.Keywords: Antimicrobial Assay, Biochemical, FT-IR, Sea Urchin, Heamolyti

Antifouling potential of seaweed, sponge and cashew nut oil extracts against biofilm bacteria and green mussel Perna viridis from Vellar estuary, Southeast coast of India

Two species of common seaweeds and a single species of sponge were collected from Tuticorin coast and screened for antifouling activity. The seaweeds, Sargassum wightii, Ulva lactuca; sponge Desmopsongiae sp., and cashew nut oil extracts were tested in vitro against ten marine fouling bacteria isolated from test panels and the green mussel Perna viridis. The biofilm bacteria growth was inhibited by methanol extracts of the seaweeds S. wightii, U. lactuca, sponge Desmospongae sp., and the tropical cashew nut oil extracts. The bacterial growth was strongly inhibited by using extract concentrations as low as 30 µg mL−1 with S. wightii, U. lactuca, Desmospongiae sp., and cashew nut oil. The byssus thread formation of the mussel was completely inhibited by methanol extracts of S. wightii, U. lactuca and cashew nut oil extracts at concentrations of 100 µg ml-1. These extracts showed strong antifouling activities on green mussel attachment with 100 µg ml-1 concentration. In this present study, there are exhibited preliminary evaluation of novel antifouling agents from marine macroalgae and tropical cashew nut oil.Keywords: Perna viridis, marine fouling bacteria, macroalgae, antifouling and tropical.African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(27) 2727-273

Occurrence of abnormal starfish Astropecten indicus (Doderlein, 1888) (Echinodermata: Astroidea) along Southeast coast of India

Starfish Astropecten indicus was collected from bycatch landings at Mudasalodai fishing harbour, Tamil Nadu (India) in November 2011. Totally 134 specimens collected among three specimens (2,2%) have abnormally developed four and six arms. Normally, A. indicus has five arms and the deviation from pentamerism is a rare phenomenon in starfishes. The present observations suggest that deviations from pentamerism are not a heritable character but are a consequence of environmental perturbations on the metamorphosis of larvae and/or abnormal regeneration of arms

Comparative study on antibacterial activity of ascidians, <i style="">Polyandrocarpa indica </i>Michaelsen and <i style="">Phallusia arabica </i>Savigny from Tuticorin coast of India

438-442Marine ascidians contain antibacterial agents of relevance to either antifouling technology or clinical pharmacology. In the present study two ascidians Polyandrocarpa indica and Phallusia arabica were examined for their antibacterial activity against ten bacterial pathogens. Antimicrobial activity of the crude extract of ascidians shows inhibitory activity against almost all the strains. However, methnolic extract of P. arabica shows prominent antibacterial activity against than that of P. indica. Maximum inhibition zone (17 mm) was observed against Salmonella typhi in the crude methanol extract of P. arabica and the minimum inhibition zone (1 mm) was noticed against P. mirabilis and P. aeruginosa in the ethyl acetate and diethyl ether extract of P. indica. In P. indica the crude extract range of inhibition of bacteria varied from 1-12 mm. Based on observed zone of inhibition, present study revealed that P. arabica extract are more effective than P. indica.</i

Biomedical and pharmacological potential of tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria isolated from marine pufferfish Arothron hispidus (Muller, 1841)

Specimens of the pufferfish Arothron hispidus collected at Parangipettai, on the southeast coast of India, were subjected to bacterial isolation and identification. Three species were identified, namely Bacillus sp., Kytococcus sedentarius and Cellulomonas fimi. Partially-purified microbial filtrates exhibited hemolytic activity on chicken and human erythrocytes of O, B and AB blood groups, with maximum activity of 32 HU. The microbial filtrates also presented ATPase, Mg2+-ATPase, Na+K+-ATPase and AchE enzymatic activities of positive neuromodulation in Kytococcus sedentarius with 1300, 300.1, 1549.98 and 140.55%, in Cellulomonas fimi with 620, 300, 10 and 128.42%, and in Bacillus species with 40, 200, 849.98 and 158.69%, respectively. Toxicity symptoms were observed when the bacterial filtrate was intraperitoneally injected into mice. The bacterial filtrate caused adverse effects on viability of the mouse muscle cell line (L929) and leukemia cell line (P388). Maximum level of inhibition was observed on the growth of L929 cell line. Bacillus lentimorbus inhibited the cell line from 84.03 to 94.43% whereas Bacillus species inhibited the growth in a range between 77.25 and 86.16% at the lowest dilution

Biological activity of Seaweed extracts from <i style="">Cladophora clavuligera</i> (Kutzing, 1843) and <i>Sargassum wightii</i> (Greville, 1995)<i> </i>against marine fouling bacteria

398-402Present study was to assess the antifouling activity of seaweeds Cladophora clavuligera and Sargassum wightii collected from Tuticorin, Southeast coast of India. Crude methanol and dichloromethane extracts of the seaweeds were tested against five biofilm forming bacterial strains, Bacillus sp.1, Bacillus sp.2, Micrococcus sp. Pseudomonas sp.1 and Pseudomonas sp.2, isolated from fouling test panels. Of these, MeOH extract of Sargassum wightii showed the activity against all the bacterial stains with significant activity (6-7 mm inhibition zone at 50µl/6mm disc) against Pseudomonas sp.1 and Bacillus sp.2 whereas DCM extract showed the activity(3-4 mm inhibition zone at 50µl/6mm disc) against Micrococcus sp., Pseudomonas sp.1 and Pseudomonas sp.2. The MeOH and DCM extracts of Cladophora clavuligera (showed the activity 5 mm inhibition zone at 50µl/6mm disc) against Bacillus sp.2 and 5 mm inhibition zone at 50µl/6mm disc against Bacillus sp.1 and Pseudomonas sp.2. The seaweeds were tested moderately toxic to Artemia salina as proved by brineshrimp lethality assay.</b