Antitumor activity of Chlorella sorokiniana and Scenedesmus sp. microalgae native of Nuevo León State, México

Abstract

Cancer cases result in 13% of all deaths worldwide. Unwanted side effects in patients under conventional treatments have led to the search for beneficial alternative therapies. Microalgae synthesize compounds with known in vitro and in vivo biological activity against different tumor cell lines. Therefore, native microalgae from the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico may become a potential source of antitumor agents. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxic effect of Nuevo Leon regional Chlorella sorokiniana (Chlorellales: Chlorellaceae) and Scenedesmus sp. (Chlorococcales: Scenedesmaceae). Native microalgae crude organic extracts cytotoxicity against murine L5178Y-R lymphoma cell line and normal lymphocyte proliferation were evaluated using the MTT reduction colorimetric assay. Cell death pathway was analyzed by acridine orange and ethidium bromide staining, DNA degradation in 2% agarose gel electrophoresis and caspases activity. Results indicated significant (p < 0.05) 61.89% ± 3.26% and 74.77% ± 1.84% tumor cytotoxicity by C. sorokiniana and Scenedesmus sp. methanol extracts, respectively, at 500 µg/mL, by the mechanism of apoptosis. This study contributes to Mexican microalgae biodiversity knowledge and their potential as antitumor agent sources.

Investigation of nutraceutical potential of the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira platensis

“…Regarding cytotoxicity and Chlorella, there is literature (Kyadari et al, 2013;Reyna-Martinez et al, 2018) supporting an antiproliferative potential as assessed by methodologies similar to that used in the current study. For instance, a dichloromethane/methanol C. pyrenoidosa extract negatively affected the viability of HeLa cells (Kyadari et al, 2013).…”

In vitro anticancer activity of methanolic extract of Granulocystopsis sp., a microalgae from an oligotrophic oasis in the Chihuahuan desert

“…extracts have cytotoxic activity which might be helpful in preventing the cancer's progress, especially when it is compared against the activity of other extracts of isolated microalgae from Mexico, such as, Chlorella sorokiniana (IC 50 460 mg/mL) and Scenedesmus sp. (IC 50 362 mg/mL) against lymphoma cells (Reyna-Martinez et al, 2018), or other microalgal extracts from Alexandrium minutum (IC 50 > 50 mg/mL) against melanoma cells (Lauritano et al, 2016), Haematococcus pluvialis (IC 50 27-72 mg/mL) against colon, breast and hepatocellular carcinome (El-Baz et al, 2018), Dunaliella salina (IC 50 > 400 mg/mL) against neuroblastoma cells (Atasever-Arslan et al, 2015), Scenedesmus obliquus (IC 50 24-93 mg/mL) against colon, hepatocelullar and breast cancer cells (Marrez et al, 2019) and Chloromonas reticulata (IC 50 > 50 mg/mL) (Suh et al, 2019) and Micractinium sp. (IC 50 100 mg/mL) against colon cancer cells (Suh et al, 2018).…”

In vitro antitumor, pro-inflammatory, and pro-coagulant activities of Megalopyge opercularis J.E. Smith hemolymph and spine venom

“…Cellular death type resulting from HEV- or SSV-mediated L5178Y-R cytotoxicity was determined according to Reyna-Martínez et al 41 . For this, 3 × 10 6 cells were exposed to HEV or SSV IC 50 using flat-bottomed, 24-well plates (Becton Dickinson), and incubated for 24 h under the same conditions as for the cytotoxicity assay.…”

“…Staining cells results were validated by the DNA degradation method 41 , where DNA like-ladder fragmentation indicates apoptotic activity, whereas DNA smear represents cell death by necrosis. DNA extracted from 1 × 10 6 cells per treatment were tested using the AxyPrep Multisource Genomic DNA Miniprep kit (Axygen) in 1% agarose gel electrophoresis at 100 V for one hour.…”