The development of drugs for photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an important area of research due to their growing use in medical applications. Therefore, it is important to develop new bioassay methods for PDT photosensitizers that are inexpensive, easy to handle and highly sensitive to environmental conditions. Xanthene dyes (fluorescein, rose bengal B, erythrosine B and eosin Y) with LED light so...

Cadmium tolerance and removal in the marine microalga Dunaliella salina were studied in cultures exposed to different metal concentrations (5-120 mg Cd l(-1)) for 96h. This microalga can be included in the group of microalgal species most tolerant to cadmium due to the high value of EC50 that it possesses (48.9 mg Cd l(-1) at 96 h of culture). The greater percentage of cadmium removed was obtai...

Dunaliella salina is a unicellular green microalga that is considered as one of the best commercial sources of carotenoids. Growth and pigment production of D. salina (isolated from Sambhar Salt Lake, Rajasthan) was studied by using various inorganic media differing in chemical compositions viz. Artificial Sea Water media, De Walne’s media, Johnson’s media, AS-100 and Modified Bold’s Basal medi...

In recent years, the use of photosynthetic microorganisms, such as microalgae, in life sciences has received increasing attentions due to their diverse phytometabolic contents with various chemical structures and biological activities (Skulberg 2006). Algal biomass and algae-derived compounds have a very wide range of potential applications, from animal feed and aquaculture to human nutrition a...

The extracts and sesquiterpene lactones of S.argentinum were assayed to determine their biological activity on Artemia salina. The most active compound was costunolide (1) with LD50= 62 ppm. Introduction Our previous phytochemical study of Stachychephalum argentinum (Asteraceae), revelead the presence of several skeletal types sesquiterpene lactones [1]. In order to explore new natural bioactiv...

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), is one of the major environmental pollutants that causes mutagenesis and cancer. BaP has been shown to accumulate in phytoplankton and zooplankton. We have studied the localization and aggregation of BaP in Chlorella sp., a microalga that is one of the primary producers in the food chain, using fluorescence confocal microscopy and f...

Endosymbiotic bacteria have been reported with extraordinary reduced genome in numerous cases. Many endosymbiotic green algae also show extreme genomic reduction of their nuclear genomes, but they may retain a fully functional plastid genome if they maintain photosynthetic ability or if they can survive outside of their host. In order to better understand how the endosymbiotic lifestyle has aff...

Paracetamol has a reasonable safety profile when taken in therapeutic doses. However, it could induce hepatotoxicity and even more severe fatal acute hepatic damage when taken in an overdose. The green alga, Dunaliella salina was investigated for hepatoprotective and antioxidant activity against paracetamol-induced liver damage in rats. Male albino Wistar rats overdosed with paracetamol showed ...

The current study examines the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of different extracts of the microalga Dunaliella salina Teodoresco (Dunaliellaceae), their fatty acid composition and the antimicrobial activity of the oil. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities were evaluated by obtaining extracts of D. salina in n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethanol, and methanol. To evaluate the antimic...