The cytotoxic activity of two D-galactose-binding lectins purified from marine invertebrates

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The present investigation was undertaken in order to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of two D-galactose-binding lectins using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay technique. Both lectins were purified from the marine invertebrates, sea hare Aplysia kurodai eggs and polychaete Perineries nuntia by conventional affinity chromatography methods. The molecular mass of Aplysia kurodai egg lectin (AKL) was determined to be 32 kDa and 56 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing and non-reducing conditions, respectively. On the other hand, polychaete Perineries nuntia lectin (PnL) was determined to be 32 kDa in both reducing and non-reducing conditions. AKL and PnL showed strong agglutination activity against trypsinized and glutaraldehyde-fixed human and rabbit erythrocytes. AKL significantly affects the mortality rate of brine shrimp. Experimental results revealed that AKL was found to be more toxic (63.33% mortality) than PnL (33.33% mortality) and the mortality rate of brine shrimp nauplii was increased with the increase in concentration of lectins. These cytotoxic results indicate that future findings of lectin applications obtained from marine invertebrates may be of importance to clinical microbiology, and that they could have application as potent chemotherapeutic agents.