Evaluation of antimalarial properties from Azores deep-sea invertebrate extracts: a first contribution
Several deep-sea marine invertebrates were collected from hydrothermal vents, seamounts and cold coral assemblages in the North Atlantic Ocean, near the Azores islands. The effect of their lipid crude extracts against two strains of malaria parasiteP. falciparum(Dd2 and 3D7) was measuredin vitroin order to establish the potential of these invertebrates as new sources for antimalarial compounds. Extracts that presented higher antimalarial activity potential were gorgonianCallogorgia verticillataand the hydrothermal vent shrimpMirocaris fortunata, presenting the lowest value of IC50 and the highest selectivity index for both evaluated stains. To our knowledge this is the first report on the antimalarial activity of crude lipid extracts considering species collected at depths higher then 100 m.