title: Antimicrobial and hemolytic activity of fish epidermal mucus Cynoglossus arel and Arius caelatus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the antimicrobial, hemolytic activity and immunomodulatory activity of fish epidermal mucus and their chemical constituents from Cynoglossus arel (C. arel) and Arius caelatus (A. caelatus). Mucus plays an important role in the prevention of colonization by parasites, bacteria and fungi.
  
  
  METHODS
  Epidermal mucus was obtained from two marine fishes, lyophilized and the chemical composition of epidermal mucus was analysed by FT-IR analysis. The in vitro antimicrobial activity against human pathogens (fungi, gram positive and gram-negative bacteria) and also the hemolytic activity and immunomodulatory activity were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Totally ten human pathogens were tested against the fish mucus. Out of the ten pathogens, five pathogens have proved to be sensitive to the mucus. Maximum zone of inhibition was observed against Vibrio cholera (V. cholera) (9 mm and 2 mm in diameter), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) with a inhibition zone of (6 mm and 3 mm), Streptococcus areus (S. areus) (5 mm and 4 mm), Vibrio parahemolyticus (V. parahemolyticus) (4 mm and 5 mm) respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present investigation has revealed that positive progresses in the fish mucus extracts against human pathogens and hemolytic activity. But further efforts are required for the purification and isolation of the active antimicrobial compounds in order to establish their possible applications.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University, Parangipettai-608 502, India. drpragathi@gmail.com
authors.forename: Subramanian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bragadeeswaran
authors.forename: Selvam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Priyadharshini
authors.forename: Kolandhasamy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Prabhu
authors.forename: Solomon Raj Sophia
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Rani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D002397:Catfishes / Q000276:immunology*; D005412:Flatfishes / Q000276:immunology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects; D006461:Hemolysis; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000187:drug effects*; D009093:Mucus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D007155:Immunologic Factors