Bioactive potential of some economically important marine gastropods along the Gulf of Mannar region, southeast coast of India

Objective: To analyse the economically important gastropods for prospective antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities from the Gulf of Mannar region, southeast coast of India. Methods: The bioactive potential of some gastropods i.e. Babylonia spirata (B. spirata), Phalium glaucum, Tonna dolium, Hemifusus pugilinus, Xancus pyrum, Chicoreus ramosus (C. ramosus), Harpa articularis, Ficus ficus and Babylonia zeylanica were analysed. Antimicrobial activity was carried out against 8 human pathogenic bacteria and 3 fungal strains by well diffusion method. Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities were analyzed by standard methods. Results: In antibacterial and antifungal activities, methanolic extract of B. spirata significantly showed the highest inhibition zone against Aeromonas hydrophila and Fusarium spp. (P > 0.05). In the total antioxidant activity, the maximum activity was observed in B. spirata (510 µg/mg) and in the 1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity, B. spirata showed the highest percentage of inhibition (76.7%). In the case of cytotoxicity i.e. brine shrimp lethality tests the methanolic extract of C. ramosus showed the lowest percentage of mortality and the LC50 values were found to be 523.9 µg/mL. Conclusions: The results revealed that all the gastropods in the present study possessed antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic effects. However, species like B. spirata and C. ramosus exhibited potent activity and can be used for further clinical studies