Brown Seaweed Bifurcaria bifurcata: Bioguided Fractionation of Extracts by Antibacterial Activity and Cytotoxicity Test

Tarik Ainane and Abdelmjid Abourriche

Biomolecules and organic synthesis laboratory, Faculty of Sciences Ben Msik, University Hassan II, BP 7955 Casablanca 20660, Morocco.

ABSTRACT: In this present work, we screened for the biological activities and fractionation of extracts of the seaweed Bifurcaria bifurcata the Moroccan coast (Casablanca). Selecting Bifurcaria bifurcata was based on the results of biological activity on the extracts obtained after Soxhlet extraction with solvents of increasing polarity such as hexane, ether, chloroform and water. We followed two biological activities: (1st) the antibacterial activity in the agar diffusion test against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter cloacae, and (2nd) cytotoxicity assay by brine shrimp test (Artemia salina). After these preliminary tests, we selected the ether extract of this seaweed for fractionation, where we collected 11 fractions per gradient of Petroleum ether (PE) and Ethyl acetate (EA). The collected fractions from the ether extract also tested for antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity test. The overall results show that the fractions from ether extract of Bifurcaria bifurcata exhibit remarkable biological activity.

KEYWORDS: Bifurcaria bifurcata; antibacterial activity; cytotoxicity assay; extraction; fractionation

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