Evaluation of potential cytotoxicity of the extracts from soft corals collected from the Philippine Sea of Mindanao: Sarcophyton glaucum, Lobophytum pauciflorum, Sinularia flexibilis and Lobophytum crassum

Soft corals have been shown to possess a rich variety of marine secondary metabolites and are considered an extremely diverse group of marine organisms. This study explored the potential cytotoxicity of soft corals collected from the Philippine Sea of Mindanao namely Sarcophyton glaucum (Sg), Lobophytum pauciflorum (Lp), Sinularia flexibilis (Sf) and Lobophytum crassum (Lc). Polar (P) and nonpolar (NP) extracts of the soft corals were prepared by sequential extraction of the freezed-dried samples with 50:50 ethanol-water and 50:50 ethylacetate-methanol, respectively. The resulting extracts were tested for their cytotoxic activity using the brine shrimp Artemia salina lethality test (BSLT). Results show that amongst the five soft corals, The polar extract of S. glaucum (SgP) exhibited interesting bioactivity with acute and chronic LC50 values of 324.00 ppm and 35.50 ppm, respectively. The results indicate that the soft coral S. glaucum may contain potential antitumor or pesticidal components and is thus worthy of further investigation.