Antimicrobial activity of some seaweeds species from Red sea, against multidrug resistant bacteria

This study evaluates the antibacterial activity of diethyl ether, methanol, ethanol and chloroform extracts of red algae Ceramium rubrum (Rhodophyta), Sargassum vulgare, Sargassum fusiforme and Padina pavonia (Phaeophyta) collected from Red sea, Egypt. The algal extracts were tested for their antibacterial activity against ten multidrug resistant clinical isolates of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. The highest inhibition activity among all extracts was obtained with 100 μl diethyl ether extract S. fusiforme against Staphylococcus aureus 2 and 50 μl ethanol extract of S. vulgare against Klebsiella pneumoniae. The algal extract of S. fusiforme and S. vulgare was characterized by Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The compounds with antimicrobial activity were identified, such as phenols, terpenes, acetogenins, indoles, fatty acids and volatile halogenated hydrocarbons. Transmission electron microscopy was applied for determining the morphological changes in S. aureus 2 and K. pneumonia treated with 100 μl diethyl ether extract of S. fusiforme and 50 μl ethanol extract of S. vulgare, respectively. Perforation of cell wall, leakage of cytoplasmic contents, severe distortion of outer cell shape, inner chromatin mild scattered cytoplasmic vacuolation, rupture of cell wall, and decreased cell size for both bacterial isolates treated with 100 μl diethyl ether of S. fusiforme extract and 50 μl S. vulgare ethanolic extract were recorded.