The biological activities of skin mucus from Monopterus albus in-vitro

Asian swamp eel (Monopterus albus) has a unique morphological elongated body which is similar to the snake and covered with a thick layer of the mucus. This study aimed to investigate the anti-oxidative, anti-cancer and antimicrobial activities of eel skin mucus in-vitro. The antioxidant results revealed that methanol extract showed higher activity than aqueous extract with higher phenolic and flavonoid contents as well as higher antioxidant assays which including DPPH radical scavenging and beta-carotene bleaching. Preliminary cytotoxicity study was demonstrated against human lung carcinoma cell line (A549) using cell viability assay which revealed that methanol extract is more potent than aqueous extract as IC50 values were 621±0.09 µg/mL and 845 ± 0.25 µg/mL respectively. Assessment of antimicrobial activity of the eel mucus extracts against several bacterial and fungal strains was conducted using diffusion method. Methanol extract at 100 µl/well was found to inhibit the growth of Microsporum gypseum and Aspergillus niger. Significantly. Furthermore, the methanol extract at 100 µl/disc significantly inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.