The Nordic Seaweeds Saccharina latissima and Laminaria digitata have potent anthelmintic effects in vitro

Abstract

Seaweed contains an abundance of bioactive compounds, and some seaweed species have been used as natural deworming agents for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, we investigated the in vitro anthelmintic (AH) activity of extracts of seaweed, from Nordic waters. We prepared three di@erent extracts: hexane, dichlormethan:methanol (DCM), and water:methanol (WM), from four seaweed species: Saccharina latissima, Laminaria digitata, Ascophyllum nodosum, and Palmaria palmata. The AH activity was assessed using an Ascaris suum third stage larvae (L3) mortality assay (1 mg DM/mL dissolved in DMSO). Moving or coiled-up larvae were counted as alive, and immobile or straight larvae as dead. Extracts with more apolar compounds (hexane, DCM) showed higher AH activity than extracts with polar compounds (WM), and the most potent extracts originated from S. latissima and L. digitata, with an average mortality of >95% after 48 hours. Extracts from A. nodosum had significantly lower AH e@ect after 48 hours. The extracts were further tested for AH e@ect in vitro against Teladorsagia circumcincta L1 (1 mg/mL, 48 h). The results showed a high AH activity of S. latissima and very low activity of A. nodosum extracts. An egg hatch assay