Evidence for several types of biologically active substances in north Pacific sea anemones

1. Twenty-two sea anemone samples from seven species were collected in Aleutian and Comandorskiye Islands from sub-littoral region (> 50m depth). 2. Water-ethanol extracts of sea anemones were tested using various test-systems after ethanol evaporation. 3. All sea anemones extracts inhibited DNA and most of them inhibited RNA synthesis in Ehrlich carcinoma tumor cells. 4. Extracts of most sea anemones species showed high hemolytic activity. 5. The extracts proved to be nontoxic or display low toxicity being i.p. injected into mice. 6. Some extracts precipitated virus of aleutian disease of mink. 7. None of the extracts showed activity toward Gram +ve, Gram -ve bacteria or yeast.