The potential of the brown seaweed Sargassum polycystum against acne vulgaris

The brown seaweed, Sargassum polycystum C. Agardh, was evaluated as a potential agent against acne vulgaris. The antioxidant and in vitro antibacterial properties of four methanol fractions (F1–F4) obtained through column chromatography were studied. F1 showed the highest activity against Propionibacterium acnes with minimal inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations of 0.25 and 0.50 mg mL−1, respectively. Additionally, treatment of P. acnes lipase with F1 resulted in the highest lipase inhibition at 71.90 %. The highest scavenging activity against DPPH· (16.567 ± 1.824 mg AAE g−1 extract) and ABTS·+ (4.075 ± 0.091 mg TE g−1 extract) was exhibited by F2. The mass spectrometry profile of F1 and F2 revealed chlorophyll a and fucoxanthin as the major anti-acne constituents. These findings suggest that extracts of S. polycystum serve as a promising source that could be developed for topical application against acne vulgaris.