Antibacterial and antifungal
activities of some marine diatoms in culture
C.S. Walter, R. Mahesh-2000
Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, 29 (3) : 238-242
(from Current Contents)
Abstract :
Non-axenic unialgal cultures of eleven marine diatoms
were screened against 13 pathogenic bacteria and 8 pathogenic fungi by agar
disc diffusion method. The lipophilic and aqueous extracts of 6 diatoms
which showed high antibacterial activity were separately screened against
the same bacterial strains and two diatoms which showed high antifungal
activity were screened against the same fungal strains. Gram positive
bacteria, Aspergillus niger and Cryptococcus neoformans were the most
susceptible pathogens. The diatom Thallassiothrix frauenfeldii showed the
highest activity. Lipophilic extracts were highly active against the
pathogens tested.
(Ctr Earth Sci Studies, CSD, Trivandrum 695031,
Kerala, India, e-mail: walter.c.s@usa.net)