Estimation of antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of algal species

The present study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of methanolic and ethanolic extracts of freshwater algae. Four different algal species i.e. Ulothrix sp., Nitzschia sp., Stigeoclonium sp. and Oedogonium sp. were tested during the present study. Samples were collected from different localities of Lahore including different ponds and many damp soil places and were kept in Biotechnology research laboratory under optimized conditions. Species were identified by studying their morphological characteristics under 10X and 40X power of microscope. Microwave assisted extraction (MAE) method was used to extract oil. The antioxidant activity of the algal extracts was determined using DPPH scavenging assay. The antioxidant effects of the extracts were compared with one of the commercial antioxidant i.e. ascorbic acid. It was observed that generally greater antioxidant activities were observed in methanolic extract in the order Oedogonium sp. > Stigeoclonium sp.> Ulothrix sp. >Nitzschia sp.. The IC50 values of Oedogonium sp., Stigeoclonium sp. and Ulothrix sp. were 19.47, 20.88 and 22.92 µg/ml respectively. However for one of the algal species Nitzschia sp