Decoding Antioxidant and Antibacterial Potentials of Malaysian Green Seaweeds: Caulerpa racemosa and Caulerpa lentillifera

Abstract

Seaweeds are gaining a considerable amount of attention for their antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Caulerpa racemosa and Caulerpa lentillifera, also known as ‘sea grapes’, are green seaweeds commonly found in different parts of the world, but the antioxidant and antibacterial potentials of Malaysian C. racemosa and C. lentillifera have not been thoroughly explored. In this study, crude extracts of the seaweeds were prepared using chloroform, methanol, and water. Total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) were measured, followed by in vitro antioxidant activity determination using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. Antibacterial activities of these extracts were tested against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and neuropathogenic Escherichia coli K1. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LCMS) analysis was then used to determine the possible compounds present in the extract with the most potent antioxidant and antibacterial activity. Results showed that C. racemosa chloroform extract had the highest TPC (13.41 ± 0.86 mg GAE/g), antioxidant effect (EC50 at 0.65 ± 0.03 mg/mL), and the strongest antibacterial effect (97.7 ± 0.30%) against MRSA. LCMS analysis proposed that the chloroform extracts of C. racemosa are mainly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, terpenes, and alkaloids. In conclusion, C. racemosa can be a great source of novel antioxidant and antibacterial agents, but isolation and purification of the bioactive compounds are needed to study their mechanism of action.

Antimicrobial Lipids from Plants and Marine Organisms: An Overview of the Current State-of-the-Art and Future Prospects

“…FA have been commonly reported in algae as antimicrobial agents. However, most studies tested total extracts instead of lipid-rich fractions and the antimicrobial activity was usually assigned to the most abundant FA in the extract [96,105,116]. The lack of target analyses limits the interpretation of the findings because FA are usually low abundant in total lipid extracts in the free form, being mainly esterified to other lipids, such as polar lipids, sterols, and triacylglycerols.…”

“…Several terpenes isolated from the brown seaweeds Sargassum fusiforme and S. vulga re were identified as putative antimicrobial molecules against clinical bacteria [ 117 ]. Terpenes were also suggested as antibacterial compounds against MRSA and E. coli in the red seaweeds Caulerpa racemosa and Caulerpa lentillifera [ 96 ].…”

Humans, Animals, Food and Environment: One Health Approach against Global Antimicrobial Resistance

“…aureus and neuropathogenic E. coli Candida racemosa chloroform extract showed the highest antibacterial activity [15] In this complex scenario, it is evident that resistant microorganisms are present in humans, animals, food and the environment. Therefore, the One Health (or superorganism) approach is very promising against antimicrobial resistance, since human and animal health are interconnected, in the sense that diseases are transmitted from humans to animals and vice versa.…”

Bioinformatic Characterization of Sulfotransferase Provides New Insights for the Exploitation of Sulfated Polysaccharides in Caulerpa

“…Several authors reported antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects; these activities were reported both for Caulerpa extracts [26][27][28][29] and purified SPs [19,20,30,31]. A potential application of the antioxidant ability of Caulerpa SPs was recently reported [4,20,27], showing promising results regarding the treatment of calcium oxalate crystals in antiurolithic cures [20]. Furthermore, promising immunostimulatory effects were observed using a different class of polysaccharides from Caulerpa species [32][33][34].…”

“…Although some of these reports may be too optimistic in their conclusions, the effective potentiality of Caulerpa still remains to be explored. Several authors reported antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects; these activities were reported both for Caulerpa extracts [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ] and purified SPs [ 19 , 20 , 30 , 31 ].…”