The Effects of Seaweed Gracilaria arcuata Extract on the Stimulation of Apoptosis in Colorectal Cancer Cell Lines

Introduction: The most common problems in the medical sciences is resistance of cancer cells to anticancer drugs. Thus, finding new anti-cancer agents with minimal side effects seem necessary. In this regard, different studies on different marine algae are reported. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the algae Gracilaria arcuata extract on the stimulation of apoptosis in colorectal cancer cell lines and the effects on cell DNA fragmentation. This study was conducted as an In vitro study. Materials and Methods: The anticancer effects of aqueous and organic extracts of algae were tested by the MTT Assay, Trypan blue staining, apoptosis by flow cytometry and DNA fragmentation assay methods. Results: The results of this study imply that the anti-cancer properties tested by MTT and Trypan blue assay, showed that methanol extract of Gracilaria arcuata with 44.45 ± 0.91 µg/mL concentration had the maximum effect on cancer cell death and the minimum effect was seen in the hexane (70.22 ± 1.22 µg/mL) and ethyl acetate extracts (70.55 ± 2.67 µg/mL), respectively (p