Anticancer activity of Sargassum wightii Greville on Dalton's ascitic lymphoma

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Brown alga; Cancer; Dalton ascitic lymphoma; Flavonoids; Sargassum wightii Greville; Trypan blue assay.