Marine brown algae are known to be the sources of biologically active secondary metabolites that have Promising pharmaceutical potential. In the current research paper, the objective was to describe chemical composition of volatile oil found in Sargassum angustifolium and to test the antioxidant, antibacterial and cytotoxic properties of the oil using in vitro assays. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to analyze the volatile oil and the profile obtained consisted of long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons, fatty acids, ketones, and terpenoid-related compounds. The antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH radical scavenging test; the activity was concentration-dependent with moderate anti-oxidant power at a higher concentration. The assessment of antibacterial activity was performed by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) tests with the selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and showed relatively weak inhibitory and bactericidal action. The MTT assay method was used to determine cytotoxic activity in human dermal fibroblast cells and two types of cancer cells (HepG2 and MCF-7). It was found that the volatile oil had high concentration dependent cytotoxicity on cancer cells with a cell viability exceeding 50% in normal fibroblast cells representing a level of selective cytotoxicity. These results indicate that volatile oil of Sargassum angustifolium has bioactive lipophilic compounds that may be effective anticancer agents, despite relatively low antioxidant activity and antibacterial activity.
Keywords: Sargassum angustifolium; volatile oil; GC-MS; DPPH assay; MTT assay