Table 2.

Apoptotic effects of Fucoxanthin (Fx), Fucoxanthinol (Fxol) and Fx/Fxol-rich extract in breast cancer cell lines.

Algal Extract or Compound	Cell Type(s)	Study Design	Apoptosis %	Reference
Fx	MCF-7	Treatments of BC cells with 20 μM Fx/Fxol followed by staining with FITC-Annexin V, ethidium homodimer III and Hoechst 33342. Fluorescence was assessed using an Axio Observer A1 inverted fluorescence microscope with FITC, rhodamine and DAPI filters	<10% after 12 h at 20 μM	[93]
	MDA-MB-231		~50% after 12 h at 20 μM
Fxol	MCF-7		~40% after 12 h at 20 μM
	MDA-MB-231		~40% after 12 h at 20 μM
Fx	MCF-7	Treatments of BC cells with 10 μM Fx/Fxol followed by staining with FITC-Annexin V, ethidium homodimer III and Hoechst 33342. Fluorescence was assessed using an Axio Observer A1 inverted fluorescence microscope with FITC, rhodamine and DAPI filters	~40% after 24 h at 10 μM	[94]
	MDA-MB-231		~60% after 24 h at 10 μM
Fxol	MCF-7		~70% after 24 h at 10 μM
	MDA-MB-231		~60% after 24 h at 10 μM
Fx	CMT-U27	Treatments of BC cells with 20 μM Fx. Flow cytometric annexin V assay was used, and fluorescence was measured at 488 nm (excitation) and 525 nm (emission)	~60% after 24 h at 20 μM	[97]
mekabu	MCF7	Treatments of BC cells with 1.0 g mekabu solution followed by staining with propidium iodide (PI). Fluorescence Intensity for PI was measured by flow cytometry gated by FSC vs. SSC.	~30% after 24 h at 15 μM ~60% after 72 h at 15 μM	[99]
	MDA-MB-237		~70% after 24 h at 15 μM ~70% in 72 h at 15 μM
	T-47D		~60% after 24 h at 15 μM ~70% after 72 h at 15 μM