Phytother Res. 2003 Jan; 17(1): 19-25.

Seasonal variation of the lipoidal matters and hypolipidaemic activity of the red alga Corallina officinalis L.

Awad NE, Selim MA, Saleh MM, Matloub AA.

Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Medicinal Plants Department, National Research Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.

The lipoidal matters of Corallina officinalis L. showed a seasonal nonsignificant quantitative variation. However, the fatty acids revealed a relative increase in the summer and winter, while unsaponifiable matter exhibited a slight increase in the spring. The GC/MS analysis of saponifiable and unsaponifiable matter of the algal samples collected in different seasons revealed that samples collected in the spring contained a low cholesterol content and high steroidal compounds as well as high polyunsaturated fatty acids. The alcohol extract, hexane extract and fatty acid fraction of this algal sample exhibited a significant hypolipidaemic activity. Also, two biologically active fractions of hydrocarbons were isolated by CC technique from the hexane fraction of C. officinalis L. and identified by GC/MS.Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.