Neuroprotective Effect Of Methanolic Extract Of Sargassum Wightii On Haloperidol Induced Catalepsy And Tardive Dyskinesia In Albino Rats

Objective: The present study was designed to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of methanolic extract of Sargassum wightii on haloperidol-induced catalepsy and tardive dyskinesia in Wistar albino rats. Methods: In this study, thirty Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into six groups. Gr-I served as control. Haloperidol (1 mg/kg intraperitoneally) was administered to rats of Gr-II to Gr-V for twenty-one consecutive days to induce catalepsy and tardive dyskinesia. Animals of Gr-II to Gr-V were orally administered with vehicle, levodopa carbidopa combination (30 mg/kg), Sargassum extract 200 and 400 mg/kg respectively. All the drugs and vehicles were given orally one hour before haloperidol injection for twenty one consecutive days. The cataleptic scores were recorded using standard bar test. Tardive dyskinesia was assessed in terms of vacuous chewing movement (VCM) and tongue protrusion (TP) scores. After behavioural testing, all animals were sacrificed on twenty-second day and various biochemical parameters like MDA, SOD and GSH were estimated in brain tissue. Results: Chronic administration of haloperidol significantly increased cataleptic scores, VCM and TP scores. (p<0.001) Sargassum wightii extract (400 mg/kg) significantly inhibited haloperidol-induced catalepsy, VCM and TP (p<0.001) Haloperidol increased MDA and decreased SOD and GSH in brain tissue to a highly significant extent (p<0.001) Sargassum extract at 400 mg/kg also significantly reversed the haloperidol-induced alteration in brain oxidative stress markers. Conclusion: Sargassum wightii inhibits haloperidol-induced catalepsy and tardive dyskinesia. Thus it may be used as a unique therapeutic adjunct for the prevention of neuroleptic-induced extrapyramidal symptoms, however, it has to be explored more.

Anticancer activity of Sargassum wightii Greville on Dalton's ascitic lymphoma / 中国天然药物

AIM@#Sargassum wightii Greville is a marine brown alga belonging to the Sargassaceae family which has about 200 species. The ethanolic extract of the whole dry plant powder contained numerous phytoconstituents, including flavonoids. The study was focused on the anticancer activity of Sargassum wightii in mice.@*METHOD@#The ethanolic extract of Sargassum wightii (EESW) at two dose levels was used to examine the anticancer activity in mice using DAL cell lines to induce cancer. The body weight, viable and non-viable tumor cell count, mean survival time, increase in life span, and hematological parameters were observed for anticancer activity of EESW.@*RESULTS@#The intraperitoneal inoculation of DAL cells in mice significantly increased cancer cell count. The decrease in the cancer cell number observed in the EESW-treated group cancer animals indicates that the test drug has a significant inhibitory effect on the tumor cell proliferation. Treatment with EESW also showed a significant decrease in tumor weight, and hence increased the lifespan of DAL-treated mice. In addition, EESW administration significantly restored the hematological parameters in DAL-treated mice.@*CONCLUSION@#The present study results suggest that administration of extract offers enhanced antioxidant potential. Therefore it can be concluded from this study that EESW possesses anticancer activity.

Antibacterial Activity and Phytochemical Analysis of Selected Seaweeds from Mandapam Coast, India.

Seaweeds are marine macroscopic algae which form an important component of marine living organisms.The antibacterial activity of three species of seaweeds Codiumadhaerens Anderson (green algae) Sargassum wightii Greville (brown algae) ,Acanthophora spicifera (Vahl.) Boergs (red algae) from intertidal region of the Mandapam coastal water were analysed against human pathogenic bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Shigelladysentriae, Shigellabodii, Salmonella paratyphi, Pseudomonas aeuroginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The present study was also carried out to investigate the phytochemical constituents like alkaloids, flavanoids, phenols, proteins and free amino acids, saponins, sterols, terpenoids and Sugars in all samples and coumarin and glycosides, quinones and tannin, estimation of biochemical composition (protein, sugar, lipid), photosynthetic pigments like chlorophyll, carotenoid and mineral composition. The results indicated that the maximum protein content (6.396±0.97%) was recorded in the brown alga S. wightii. The maximum carbohydrate content (6.29±0.063%) was recorded in the red alga A. spicifera. The maximum lipid content (1.213±0.02%) was recorded in green alga C.adharens. The highest total phenol (216.65±17.38) and flavanoid (379.99±21.813) was in the brown seaweed S. wightii. The maximum chlorophyll ‘a’ (0.347±0.051), total chlorophyll (0.438±0.061) and carotenoid (0.670±0.225) were recorded in the brown seaweed S. wightii where as chlorophyll ‘b’ (0.107±0.016) was highest in C. adharens. Among the 14 minerals analyzed most of them were highest in the red alga A. spicifera. Among the three seaweeds screened for their antibacterial activity the brown alga S. wihgtii is more superior to the red alga A. spicefera and green alga C.adharens in controlling the growth of most of the pathogens tested. The highest zone of inhibition (13mm) was recorded in methanol extract of the red alga against Vibrio cholerae.

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.