Antitumor and Antifungal Activities of Organic Extracts of Seacucumber Holothuria atra from the Southeast Coast of India Antitumor and Antifungal Activities of Organic Extracts of Seacucumber Holothuria atra from the Southeast Coast of India

In phylum Echinodermata, the family Holothuridae is distinguished by its capacity of bioactive compounds. Sea cucumber Holothuria atra is commonly known as the lollyfish. The antifungal activity was detected using agar well diffusion method against the various fungal strains such as Trichoderma viride, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavis, Candida albicans and Penicillium chrysogenum. Relatively high antifungal activity was seen against Candida albicans at 100 μL-1 concentration of extracts. Zone of inhibition was measured at 18 mm of diameter. The anti-tumor activities were detected against the Vero and Hep2 cell lines using MTT assay. The cells were treated with H. atra extract at concentrations 0.078-10 mg m L-1. The extract showed high proliferative activity against the Hep2 cells. The body wall extracts of sea cucumber(H. atra) showed effective antifungal and antitumor activities. All these findings suggest that the extracts could be used for the development of drugs