Studies on antifungal, cytotoxic activities of mollusks and echinoderm extracts from southeast coast of India

Objective: To investigate the antifungal, haemolytic and cytotoxic activity of methanol and methanol: chloroform extracts of the marine Mollusks (10 Gastropods, 5 Bivalves, 2 Cephalopods) and 1 Echinoderm. Methods: Crude methanol and methanol: chloroform extracts of the marine Mollusks (10 Gastropods, 5 Bivalves, 2 Cephalopods) and 1 Echinoderm were tested for antifungal activity using disc diffusion method. The haemolytic activity of the extracts was assessed by the micro haemolytic method. The toxicity of samples was also studied by Brine shrimp lethality bioassay. Results: Among the 18 species, 8 species showed positive results in antifungal activity against fungal pathogens, Penicillium sp, Trichoderma sp, Trichothecium sp, Hormodendrum sp, Rhizophus sp. Among the Haemolytic activity, methanol extracts of 9 species and methanol: chloroform extracts of 6 species showed haemolytic activity with chicken erythrocytes. In the brine shrimp lethality test four species showed toxicity against the brine shrimp nauplii and LC value was calculated. 50