Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Various Extracts of Verbascum antiochium

Verbascum antiochium Boiss., a member of the Scrophulariaceae family, is endemic to Turkey. The extracts obtained from V. antiochium by increased polarity and direct methanol extraction were tested by the agar well diffusion method against various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and one fungus. The methanol/water extract exhibited a larger inhibition zone against both the Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria than the other extracts. Haemophilus influenzae was found to be the most sensitive bacterium among the bacteria tested. The antioxidant activities of the methanolic extract of V. antiochium were examined by two complementary test systems. The 50% inhibition activity of the methanolic extract of V. antiochium against the free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl was determined as 4.80 mg/mL. In the case of the linoleic acid system, oxidation of linoleic acid was inhibited by the methanolic extract of V. antiochium with 79.92% inhibition, which is close to the value of the synthetic antioxidant reagent, tert-butylated hydroxytoluene. The total phenolic components of V. antiochium were determined to be 92.71 mg of gallic acid equivalents/g. Iridoid glycosides, flavonoids, and saponins were detected as the major chemical constituents in the extract

Cytotoxicity screening of Bangladeshi medicinal plant extracts on pancreatic cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There has been a long standing interest in the identification of medicinal plants and derived natural products for developing cancer therapeutics. Our study focuses upon pancreatic cancer, due to its high mortality rate, that is attributed in part to the lack of an effective chemotherapeutic agent. Previous reports on the use of medicinal plant extracts either alone or alongside conventional anticancer agents in the treatment of this cancer have shown promising results. This work aims to investigate the therapeutic properties of a library of medicinal plants from Bangladesh.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>56 extracts of 44 unique medicinal plants were studied. The extracts were screened for cytotoxicity against the pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line Panc-1, using a label-free biosensor assay. The top cytotoxic extracts identified in this screen were tested on two additional pancreatic cancer cell lines (Mia-Paca2 and Capan-1) and a fibroblast cell line (Hs68) using an MTT proliferation assay. Finally, one of the most promising extracts was studied using a caspase-3 colorimetric assay to identify induction of apoptosis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Crude extracts of <it>Petunia punctata, Alternanthera sessilis</it>, and <it>Amoora chittagonga </it>showed cytotoxicity to three cancer cell lines with IC₅₀values ranging between 20.3 - 31.4 μg/mL, 13.08 - 34.9 μg/mL, and 42.8 - 49.8 μg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, treatment of Panc-1 cells with <it>Petunia punctata </it>was shown to increase caspase-3 activity, indicating that the observed cytotoxicity was mediated via apoptosis. Only <it>Amoora chittagonga </it>showed low cytotoxicity to fibroblast cells with an IC₅₀value > 100 μg/mL.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based upon the initial screening work reported here, further studies aimed at the identification of active components of these three extracts and the elucidation of their mechanisms as cancer therapeutics are warranted.</p