INTRODUCTION:

Over thousands of years medicinal plants playing a vital role in curing many diseases. Plant derived products shown considerable pharmacological action¹. Existing and emerging of multiple drug resistance during the treatment of infectious diseases due to repeated and rational administration of antibiotics has become challenging area for developing newer antibiotics². Many research works had focused on the identification of anti microbial substances from plants³. However, the concept of findings newer drugs is now days focused to marine resources especially for antimicrobial and anticancer drugs^4&5. Seaweeds have been used as medicine for many ailments since ancient times. The Romans used seaweeds in the treatment of wounds, burns, and rashes. During 18th century in Scotland physicians used dried seaweed to successfully drain abdominal wall abscesses. Thus the Pharmaceutical importance of seaweeds is well known all over the world. There are many reports shown antibiotic, anti bacterial, antifungal and antineoplastic. Therefore, recently the development of newer drug has been focused towards seaweeds since many studies have been proved that potential antibacterial substances can be isolated. This review has focusing about the importance of seaweeds as potential resources of antibacterial.

ABOUT SEA WEEDS:

Seaweeds are multicellular macroalgae have been proved as a potential resources for pharmaceuticals since seaweed contains numerous pharmacologically important bioactive constituents such as flavanoids, carotenoids, dietary fiber, protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals⁶. The chemical composition of seaweed varies and is affected by the species, geographic area, seasons of the year and temperature of the water. Globally, the seaweed production reached 18.6 million tonin 2005. Among all countries China is producing more seaweeds about 14.5 million tons, which was about 78% of global production. In fact marine sources of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Red Sea and Arabian Sea have not explored much for isolating bioactive substances till date. There are three main phyla, or divisions of algae; brown algae (Phaeophyta), red algae (Rhodophyta), and green algae (Chlorophyta)⁷.

Brown algae:

Brown algae are belong to the phylum Phaeophyta are generally in brown in colour due to the presence of green pigments chlorophyll a, c and the brown fucoxanthin.

Red algae:

The red algae are seaweeds belonging to the phylum Rhodophyta having unique red and blue pigments, phycoerythrin and phycocyanin respectively in addition to chlorophyll a.

Green algae:

Green algae belong to phylum chlorophyta having chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotene b and xanthophylls.

STUDIES ON ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY:

Seaweeds are excellent source of antimicrobial many researchers had proved that sea weeds are potential resource of antimicrobials. In 1964 Sieburth⁸ had reviewed the anti bacterial properties of marine algae. Followed by, many researchers had reported globally about the anti bacterial properties of seaweed. Later in 1975 James et al.⁹ screened the anti microbial activity of cycloeudeudemsol, laurinterol and debromolaurinterol against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella choleraesuis, Mycobacterium smegmatis, Candida albicans and Escherichia coli. They had reported that all the three compounds were showing activity predominantly against gram positive bacteria. Laurinterol showed better activity than the rest. Cycloeudeudemsol showed significant activity against gram negative bacteria⁹. Scientists from Roche Research Institute of marine pharmacology, Deewhy, Sydney, Australia between 1974 and 1981 carried out an intensive study on the isolation of bioactive substances from marine flower and fauna aiming to develop newer drugs especially antibiotics. They screened 159 species among those 118 showed antibacterial properties. They had reported the spectrum of activity of tested crude extracts of various seaweeds predominantly active against gram positive bacteria than gram negative bacteria¹⁰. In 1977, Ohta and Takagi¹¹ reported that the methyl alcohol extract of Marginisporum aberrans, a red alga showed activity against Bacillus subtilis.

David Ballantine et al., 1984¹² reported the antibiotic activity of lipid extracts from Caribbean seaweeds. They screened 102 algal species among that 65 species showed antibacterial effect against certain bacteria. Sivakumar et al., 2008⁵ screened the methanolic extract from Acanthophora spicifera and Hypnea musciformis against various organisms such as Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli. They had reported that the methanolic extract of Acanthophora spicifera was shown spectrum of activity against Salmonella typhi, Bacillus cereus, Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli. However, the methanolic extract of hypneamusciformis was active against all the organisms tested except Salmonella typhi.

Vallinayagam et al., 2009¹³demonstrated the activities of four seaweeds namely Ulva lactuca, Padina gymnspora, Sargassum wightii and Gracillaria edulis against human bacterial pathogens Staphylococcal aureus, Vibrio cholera, Shigella dysentriae, Shigella bodii, Salmonella paratyphi, Psudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella Pneumoniae. They recorded the maximum spectrum activity was exhibited by Gracillaria edulis against Staphylococcus aureus. Rajasulochana et al., 2009¹⁴ studied about the effect of extracts of marine red and brown algae. However, the activities varied with the solvent used for the extraction. In their study the methanolic extract of Kappaphycus was observed maximum activity against Pseudomonas fluorescens, Staphylococcus aureus and lesser activity on Vibrio cholera and Proteus mirabilis. Furthermore benzene, n – hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform: methanol solvents were shown zone of inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. They had stated that chloroform : methanol solvent extraction was the best for extracting effective anti bacterial materials from the brown algae species.

Karthika Devi et al., 2009¹⁵screened the commonly occurring green algae Codium adherens, Ulva reticulate and Halimeda tuna that are collected from Gulf of Mannar. They utilized seven different organic solvents namely acetone, methanol, chloroform, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, ethanol and petroleum ether were utilized for the extraction. They had recorded the maximum activity against Staphylococcus species. Selective extraction prepared by using ethanol from Gracillaria edulis, Calorpeltda and Hydroclothres species was established by Kolanjinathan et al., 2009¹⁶. They screened the crude extract against Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus faecalis and Bacillus cereus. They demonstrated that Gracillaria edulis shown good spectrum of activity against all tested organism except Bacillus Cereus and Enterobacter aerogenes. Crude ethanolic extracts of Calorpha peltada was effective against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecalis. However, ethanolic extracts of Hydroclothers species exhibit activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa when compared with rest of the tested organisms.

In 2010 Muftah¹⁷ reported that diethyl ether of Rivularia species of meditarian seashore, Libya exhibited moderate activity against Pseudomonas mirabilis and Actinobacter species when compared with ethanol extract of Rivularia species. Uma et al., 2011¹⁸ demonstrated the anti bacterial activity of acetone, methanolic, ethanolic and DMSO extract of dried green marine algae Desmococcus olivaceous, Chlorococcum humicola and Choerlla vulgaris. They screened the activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas, Vibrio cholera, Streptococcus pyogenes and Escherichia coli. Phyto chemical analysis showed the presence of bioactive compounds such as tannin, phenolic, flavainois, saponins, terpenes, carbohydrates and cardiac glycosides. In their study acetone extract of Chlorococcum humicola showed more activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.

Salem et al., 2011¹⁹ reported that the methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of eight different seaweeds namely Cystoesira myrica, Cystoesiria trinoidis, Padina gymnospora, Sargassum dentifolium, Actinotrichiafragilis, Caulerpa racemosa and Codium fragile. They screened the antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella sp and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methanolic extracts of Padina gymnospora and Codium fragile; and ethyl acetate extracts of Caulerpa racemosa, Codium fragile and Padina gymnospora showed higher antibacterial activities when compared with the rest.

In 2012 Sujatha et al²⁰published a study on the antibacterial activity of Chlorophyceae group of seaweeds. They had selected four different species namely Chetomorpha antennia, Cladophora fascicularis, Spongomorpha indica and Ulva fasciata collected from seacoast of Visakhapatnam. They screened crude extract against selected bacterial strains Actinomyces viscosus, Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus mutans. Their study revealed that the seaweeds have potential antibacterial substances especially against oral pathogens. Therefore, they concluded that the extracts can be used for food additives, mouth washes, chewing gum for preventing and treating dental caries.

Tajbakhsh et al., 2011²¹ published a study on the activity of Cystoseria trinodis against selected bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. For extracting the active constituents from algae a mixture of solvent used, which contains diethyl ether, ethanol and normal hexane mixed in a preparation of 1:1:1. They had reported that the extract was achieved against gram positive and gram negative bacteria. They concluded that C. trinodis could be useful natural resources for the preparation of antibacterial agents. Kayalvizhi et al., 2012²² investigated the antibacterial effect of seaweed using four different types of seaweeds namely Sargassum wightii, Stochespoermum marginatum, Gracillaria fohifera and Padina boergesenii. They used acetone, methanol, chloroform and diethyl ether extraction of bioactive principles. The crude extracts were screened for their antimicrobial activity against bacterial pathogens Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococci sp, Proteus sp, Streptosoccus sp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Salmonella sp, Shewanella sp, Vibrio flurialis and Vibrio splendidus. Their study showed that the acetone extract of brown seaweed shown significant anti microbial activity.

Sivakumar and Safhi² reported in 2013 that the petroleum ether extract of Chaetomorpha antennina was shown the anti bacterial effect. The extracts were tested against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aerugiosa. It was observed that the petroleum ether showed predominant zone of inhibition against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. However, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were also susceptible. But bacillus cereus and Klebsiella pneumonia were resistant against the tested extract.

In conclusion, the various literatures showed that extensive work had been established for past 3 decades in order to isolate the bioactive substance for various diseases especially to develop antimicrobial. However, extensive study should be carried out to develop newer drug moieties. Therefore the research work on seaweed has a great scope for developing newer drugs.

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Received on 29.07.2014 Modified on 14.08.2014

Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 7(10): Oct. 2014 Page 1178-1180