Abstract

Jellyfish abundance is increasing in many marine ecosystems worldwide, including Mediterranean Sea where, due to the high coastal population density, the human economical and recreational activities, as well as the public health, are affected. Jellyfish, however, are known to have a number of properties that may be of benefit to society. They have a high collagen content widely used in cosmetics, whereas some outbreak-forming species with large biomasses are considered to be healthy food in oriental Countries.As scientific attention on marine invertebrates as source of bioactive compounds is currently expanding, a number of jellyfish metabolites with significant bioactive activities, are increasingly reported. Within an overall analysis on the potential resource exploitation of jellyfish outbreaks in the Mediterranean Sea, we report about biochemical studies on the zooxanthellatae scyphomedusa Cotylorhiza tuberculata (Macri, 1778) as a source of putative valuable bioactive compounds. An extract from the C. tuberculata was obtained, fractionated and characterized and analyzed by HPLC, GC-MS and MALDI-MS. The biological activity was assayed on breast cancer (MCF-7) and not-cancer (HEKa) cells. The extract revealed a complex composition including photosynthetic pigments, valuable ?-3 and ?-6 fatty acids and polypeptides of either algal and jellyfish origin. Partially purified extract fractions showed antioxidant activity as well as the ability to affect cell viability and intercellular communication mediated by gap junctions (GJIC) differentially in cancer- and not cancer cells. Non-cytotoxic doses were able to enhance GJIC in time- and dose-dependent and a putative action mechanism for the observed anticancer bioactivity through the modulation of GJIC has been hypothesized. This jellyfish-algal consortium represents abundant available biomass and should be considered for their potential as a source of bioactive compounds of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical relevance.

Autore Pugliese

• Leone Antonella

Tutti gli autori

• A. Leone; R.M. Lecci ; M. Durante ; S. Piraino

Titolo volume/Rivista

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Anno di pubblicazione

2013

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ISBN

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Nessuna citazione

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Numero di citazioni Scopus

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Settori ERC

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