Screening of antiangiogenic potential of twenty two marine invertebrate extracts of phylum Mollusca from South East Coast of India

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the antiangiogenic potential of twenty two marine invertebrate species of Phylum Mollusca from south east coast of India.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Live specimens of molluscan species were collected and their methanolic extracts were evaluated for preliminary antiangiogenic activity using the in ovo chick chorio-allantoic membrane assay. The extracts were further evaluated for in vivo antiangiogenic activity using chemical cautery induced corneal neovascularization assay in rats and oxygen induced retinopathy assay in rat pups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the chick chorio-allantoic membrane assay, four methanolic extracts of marine molluscan species viz. Meretrix meretrix, Meretrix casta, Telescopium telescopium and Bursa crumena methanolic extracts exhibited noticeable antiangiogenic activity at the tested concentration of 200 µg whereby they significantly inhibited the VEGF induced proliferation of new blood vessels. Among these four extracts, the methanolic extract of Meretrix casta exhibited relatively higher degree of antiangiogenic activity with an inhibitiory percentage (64.63%) of the VEGF induced neovascularization followed by the methanolic extracts of Telescopium telescopium (62.02%), Bursa crumena (60.48%) and Meretrix meretrix (47.01%). These four methanolic extracts were further evaluated for in vivo antiangiogenic activity whereby the methanolic extract of Telescopium telescopium exhibited most noticeable inhibition (42.58%) of the corneal neovascularization in rats in comparison to the sham treated group, and also exhibited most noticeable inhibition (31.31%) of the oxygen induced retinal neovascularization in rat pups in comparison to the hyperoxia group that was observed for considerable retinal neovascularization.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The significant antiangiogenic activity evinced by the extract of Telescopium telescopium merits further investigation for ocular neovascular diseases.</p>

In vitro antioxidant properties and FTIR analysis of two seaweeds of Gulf of Mannar

Objective: To evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activity of Sargassum wightii (S. wightii) andUlva lactuca (U. lactuca). Methods: Dried seaweeds of S. wightii and U. lactuca were tested for total phenolic content. In vitro antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH assay and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Functional groups of two seaweeds were analysed by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Results: The highest total phenolic content was observed in S. wightii (0.65±0.02 mg GAE/g) when compared with U. lactuca. In vitro antioxidant activity of S. wightii showed higher activity in all assays than U. lactuca with the higher total antioxidant activity (123.40±4.00 mg ascorbic acid/g), DPPH radical scavenging activity (108.06±1.02)% and ferric reducing antioxidant power (153.40±1.41 mg GAE/g). FITR spectrum of standard gallic acid was compared with seaweeds and same number of peaks lying between 449.32 and 3 495.89 cm-1 and 462.89 and 3 407.05 cm-1 was recorded. Conclusions: These results show that S. wightii has higher antioxidant capacity than U. lactuca. Further study is necessary to exploit the multifunctional properties of seaweeds which will be usefull to treat many diseases.