ANTIVIRAL SUBSTANCES FROM CALIFORNIA MARINE ALGAE¹

Abstract

Extracts of 28 species of marine macroscopic algae collected from various coastal habitats of northern California were examined for antiviral activity against a broad spectrum of mammalian viruses. Ten members of Rhodophyta contained substance(s) which caused greater than a 2 log reduction in the infectivity of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2. In addition, anti‐Coxsackie Bs virus activity was detected in extracts of Constantinea simplex Setchell. The physical and chemical properties of the substance in extracts of Farlowia mollis (Harvey and Bailey) Farlow and Setchell and C. simplex indicated the active agent was a structural polysaccharide.

Frequent Occurrence of HIV-Inhibitory Sulphated Polysaccharides in Marine Invertebrates

“…In 1958, Gerber et aI., reported that algal polysaccharides exhibited antiviral activity towards mumps and influenza B viruses. Ehresmann et al (1977) linked the inhibition of herpes simplex and other viruses with polysaccharide fractions from extracts of ten red algae; similar observations were made by Richards et al (1978). More recently, Nakashima et al (1987aNakashima et al ( , 1987b, have characterized the HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitory sulphated polysaccharide from the red alga Schizymenia pacifica.…”

Anti-HIV Activity of Extracts and Compounds from Algae and Cyanobacteria

“…The antiviral e!ects of polysaccharides from marine algae toward mumps virus and in#uenza B virus were reported by Gerber et al (1958). Subsequently, polysaccharides fractions from extracts of red algae were found to inhibit herpes simplex virus (HSV) and other viruses (Burkholder and Sharma, 1969;Deig, 1974;Ehresmann et al, 1977;Richards et al, 1978). These observations did not generate much interest because the antiviral action of the compounds was considered to be largely nonspeci"c (Witvrouw and De Clercq, 1997).…”

Antibiotic activity of lipid-soluble extracts from Caribbean marine algae

“…Marine algae with topical cleansing (Reichelt & Borowitzka, 1984), antifungal (Welch, 1962;Moreau et al, 1984), antineoplastic (Mayer & Panick, 1984;Patterson et al, 1984), antifertility (Naqvi et al, 1980), and antiviral, including antiherpes (Ehresmann et al, 1977Hatch et al, 1979;Naqvi et al, 1980;Caccamese et al, 1980Caccamese et al, , 1981Rinehart et al, 1981;Yamamoto et al, 1982) activities have been reported. Hoppe (1979) reviewed the broad worldwide usage of algae in folk medicine.…”