Biochemical profiling and anticancer properties of brown seaweed Dictyota dichotoma (Hudson.) J.V.Lamouroux

In the present study, we have extracted the secondary metabolites from Dictyota dichotoma and evaluated their anticancer properties against Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) breast cancer cell lines. Different solvent extracts were used to isolate the bioactive molecules form D. dichotoma. Among them, methanol extract showed the highest total phenol content (TPC: 306.31 ± 1.7 GAE mg/g extract), total tannin content (TTC: 291.90 ± 1.2 RE mg/g extract) and total flavonoid content (TFC: 92.89 ± 0.6 GAE mg/g extract). The antioxidant ABTS assay of methanol extract inhibited 74.51 ± 0.10% of free radicals and phosphomolybdenum assay showed 62.36 ± 0.04 mg/g AAE/g extract. Furthermore, bioactive compounds were characterised by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), highly performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The GC-MS results revealed 29 bioactive compounds that are highly potential biological activities. The extracted compound was quantified and confirmed by HPLC and FT-IR. The D. dichotoma methanol extract effectively induced the apoptosis in MCF-7 breast cancer cells and recorded IC50 value of 44.35 ± 8.62 µg/mL.