The chemical and biological diversity of the marine environment with a
wide variety of marine organisms are proven to be a very rich source of natural
products with biomedical applications. Bioprospecting of marine algae, fungi, sponges
and their associated organisms diverse in taxonomy is largely productive and
biologically active and thus offer a great scope for the discovery of new biologically
active compounds. The present study aims to evaluate the antioxidant properties and
neuroprotective activity of fungi isolated from the marine sponge Callyspongia fibrosa.
The molecular identification of the fungi by DNA Sequencing and subsequent
phylogenetic analysis showed 99% similarity to Aspergillus tamarii. The ethyl acetate
crude extracts of Aspergillus tamarii exhibited significant antioxidant activity with an
IC50 <200 μg/ml on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. In addition, the
extracts exhibited Nitric Oxide (NO) inhibitory activity in Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)
stimulated RAW 264.7 neuroblastoma cells in a dose dependent manner, indicating that
Aspergillus tamarii produces potential antioxidant and neuroprotective compounds.
Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Aspergillus tamarii, Callyspongia fibrosa,
Marine bio-prospecting, Neuroprotection.
