Antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects of marine sponge extracts , and from a Caribbean Island.

Summary

Although marine sponges are known for their antimicrobial, antifungal and cytotoxic activity, very few studies have been carried out on endemic species of Martinique. Martinique is part of the Agoa Sanctuary, a marine protected area that includes the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of the French Caribbean islands, making it an abundant source of marine species. To highlight the potential of this area for the discovery of marine biomolecules with antipathogenic and antitumor activities, we tested the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of sponge species , and . Five bacterial strains: (CIP 78.3), (CIP 54.127), (CIP A22), (CIP 67.8) and (CIP 76125) were evaluated, as well as four tumor cell lines: breast cancer (MDA-MB231), glioblastoma (RES259) and leukemia (MOLM14 and HL-60). Antimicrobial activity was evaluated using the disc diffusion technique by determining the minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal concentrations. Tumor cytotoxic activity was determined by defining the minimum concentration of extracts that would inhibit cell growth. Ethanolic extracts of were bactericidal for and strains, as well as strongly cytotoxic (IC < 20 µg/mL) on all cancer cell lines. also showed strong cytotoxic activity on cell lines but no antimicrobial activity. These results are innovative for this species on these bacterial lines, highlighting the potential of sponge extracts from this area as bioactive compounds sources.