Antibacterial and biofilm prevention metabolites from Acanthophora spicifera

Abstract

Acanthophora spicifera harbors a diverse array of secondary metabolites with therapeutic potential. The aim of this study is to isolate and characterize secondary metabolites from A. spicifera and then evaluate the antiproliferation, antibacterial, and biofilm prevention properties, followed by an analysis of molecular docking experiments. By employing chromatographic analysis and NMR spectroscopy, the isolated compounds were, the known flavonol, 8-hydroxyquercetagetin (1), three recognized steroids cholest-4-ene-3,6-dione (2), cholest-5-en-3β-ol (3), and 5α-cholestane-3,6-dione (4), and 2-bromohexadecanoic acid (5). These compounds exhibited antimicrobial effects against various Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria with inhibition zones ranging from 6.5 ± 0.2 to 17.2 ± 0.12 mm and 7.0 ± 0.4 to 15.3 ± 0.60 mm, respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 inhibited biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. Compounds 1–4 demonstrated binding affinity values between −7.5 and −9.4 kcal/mol to protein 1A0G. These binding affinity values were akin to that of amoxicillin, implying that one potential antibacterial mechanism of action of these compounds may involve the inhibition of bacterial cell wall synthesis. All compounds showed no toxicity against Artemia salina and weak activity against Lymphoma and Lewis lung carcinoma cell lines with LD50 > 100 μg/mL.