Natural products with promising biomedical properties have been described from sponges, but the problem of supply is usually a limiting factor for their pharmacological evaluation. Mycale cecilia produces an array of metabolites containing a pyrrole-2-carbaldehyde moiety (e.g., mycalazals and mycalenitriles) that have shown activity as growth inhibitors of the human prostate carcinoma cell line LNcaP. This study shows that the culture of M. cecilia is a viable method to supply mycalazals while protecting the wild population. Small implants were bound to ceramic tiles, and after 3 to 4 days, the tissue samples formed a secure attachment. Subsequently, these explants were simultaneously cultured in their natural environment and in small tanks for 60 days. Sponges in the tanks were fed a diet consisting of a mixture of two microalgae (Tetraselmis sp. and Isochrysis sp.) and powdered yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The final survival of the explants differed significantly between the two farming methods: It was higher in the natural environment (95 +/- 7.07%
overall mean +/- standard error) than in the enclosed system (65 +/- 21.21%). Growth was also higher than in the tanks, and after 60 days, it increased to 207% in the sea and 65% in the tanks, which represented a daily increase of 3.5% and 1.5%, respectively. At the end of the trial, both the explants cultured in the sea and in the tanks retained the production of bioactive metabolites. The mean concentration of pyrrole-2-carbaldehyde derivatives in wild and cultured sponges was determined by H-1-NMR. These results demonstrate that in-sea aquaculture of M. cecilia is a viable method for supplying the amounts of mycalazal-type compounds needed to advance the studies on their bioactivity.
