A review on the diversity, chemical and pharmacological potential of the green algae genus Caulerpa

Abstract

The seaweed Genus Caulerpa is still chemically and pharmacologically underexplored. This sea vegetable is of nutritional interest where some species are considered a source of food, such as sea grapes C. lentillifera. Conversely, C. taxifolia is toxic. Therapeutic potentials of pure compounds isolated from the Genus Caulerpa are promising as antiviral, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, immunostimulatory, hypolipidemic, anti-obesity, cardio-protective, hepatoprotective and anti-proliferative agents. This review covers the literature on Genus Caulerpa during the period 1978 to 2019 and highlights the chemical and pharmacological potential of the genus Caulerpa with their mechanism of action whenever applicable.