ARMIN S. CORONADO AND MARIBEL L. DIONISIO-SESE
Abstract
Marine bioactive compounds have become popular due to their biomedical importance. This study focuses on exploring the antimicrobial property of the crude ethanolic extract from the brown seaweed Sargassum crassifolium J.G. Agardh collected from the coastal waters of Polillo Island, Quezon Province, Philippines. Crude ethanolic extract from fresh (F) and dried (D) samples of S. crassifolium produced two (2) fractions (F1= liquid fraction; F2 = solid lyophilized fraction). Phytochemical screening of the four (4) fractions revealed the presence of alkaloid, glycoside, polyphenol, saponin and volatile oil. Anthraquinone, flavonoid and tannin were not detected in the crude ethanolic extract. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing by disk-diffusion assay showed that only the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus was susceptible to the crude extract. The Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli as well as the non-filamentous and filamentous fungi Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger, respectively, were found to be resistant. The highest antimicrobial activity against S. aureus was observed in FF1 (%RIZ = 39.40 ± 1.13) while the lowest was observed in DF2 (%RIZ = 29.51 ± 4.47).