Antimicrobial and anticancer activities of Laminaria ochroleuca collected from the coast of El Jadida (Morocco)

Marine algae are known to produce a wide variety of bioactive secondary metabolites and several compounds have been derived from them for prospective development of novel drugs by the pharmaceutical industries. In this study, Laminaria ochroleuca isolated from Atlantic coast of El Jadida-Morocco, was evaluated for its potential bio activity and for its cytotoxic activity using the test of brine shrimp lethality for larvae and tested on KB cells line (human buccal epidermal carcinoma), K562 cell lines (Human chronic myelocytic leukemia) and HeLa cell lines (Human epitheloid cervix carcinoma). Extracts of the algae selected for the study were prepared using hexane, dichloromethane, dichloromethane/methanol (50:50), methanol and water, and assayed for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas sp., Staphylococcus aureus , Bacillus sp. and Streptococcus faecalis and for antifungal activity against Candida albicans , Candida tropicalis and Cryptococcus neoformans . It was found that dichloromethane/methanol was most effective followed by methanol for the preparation of algal extract with significant antibacterial activities (P=0,05), respectively. Laminaria ochroleuca showed significant cytotoxic activity of 100% inhibition against Artemia salina and an antitumor activity against KB cells lines.