ANTICANCER, CYTOTOXIC EFFECT OF TAMARIX APHYLLA, AND ANTIBACTERIAL SCREENING EFFICIENCY AGAINST MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT HUMAN PATHOGENS

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the anticancer, cytotoxic effect of Tamarix aphylla, and antibacterial effectiveness against 10 pathogenic bacteria that cause common and sometimes serious infections in human and animals.Methods: T. aphylla fresh and disease-free leaves were collected from the different geographical regions of Saudi Arabia. The anticancer, cytotoxic effect of T. aphylla leaves, and antibacterial screening efficiency against multidrug-resistant human pathogens were investigated in vitro using Vero cells as a normal cells and MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma cells).Results: T. aphylla leaf extracts exhibited a low cytotoxic effect on Vero cell line at high concentration, with an 50% cytotoxicity concentration value of >1000 μg/ml. The methanolic extract inhibited MCF-7 cancer cells in a concentration-dependent manner. The methanol and ethanol extracts showed antibacterial activity with variable inhibition effects and differences in their activities against tested pathogenic bacteria ranging from very high inhibition (20.7±1.3 mm) to low (4±0.6 mm). The minimum inhibitory concentration of methanol and ethanol results showed no significant differences.Conclusions: The findings of this study conclude that the T. aphylla leaf extract had lower toxicity on normal cell line (low toxic plant) and significantly inhibited the growth of cancer cells. T. aphylla has potential antibacterial biomolecules against multidrug-resistant human pathogens

Potential bioactivity of Phoenix dactylifera fruits, leaves, and seeds against prostate and pancreatic cancer cells

The use of functional foods’ phytochemicals in the chemoprevention of different cancer diseases has become one of the hot scientific areas in the clinical nutrition field. For instance, the Khalas palm cultivar (KPC; Phoenix dactylifera) is one of the natural sustainable resources that have high bioactivity and functionality. This study aimed to investigate the antiproliferative activity and mode of action of KPC’s different parts on prostate (Pc3) and pancreatic (panc1) cancer cells at a molecular level. In the methods, KPC’s leaves, seeds, and fruits’ chemical composition and phytochemical analysis were analyzed. Also, the cytotoxic effects of each extract were assessed against pc3 and panc1 cell lines. Besides, induction of apoptosis, cell cycle analysis, and gene expression of both Cap3 and Cap9 were studied. The obtained results indicated that KPC leaves extract exhibited the highest significant (P < 0.01) anti-proliferation activity against the utilized cancer cell lines compared to fruits and seeds extracts. Also, there were significant (P < 0.05) differences in the phenolic contents, flavonoid of compounds, and antioxidant power of the leaves when compared to the seeds and fruits. Additionally, the highest cytotoxic effect (lowest IC50) was recorded with leave extract than seeds and fruits. Meanwhile, the seeds extract induced (P < 0.05) the apoptosis and arrested cells in the G2/M phase as well as up-regulated the gene expression of the apoptotic-related genes (Casp3 and Casp9) compared to the control group. In conclusion, this study showed that the presence of bioactive components in the KPC different parts extracts have the significant ability to induce the apoptotic pathway that could down-regulate the proliferation of prostate (pc3) and pancreatic (panc1) cancer cells. The pathway mechanism of action was induced by the phytol molecule presented in its leaves extract

MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF THE CULTIVATED MORNINGA OLEIFERA IN SAUDI ARABIA

ABSTRACT: Seven hundred and nine nucleotides spanning the ITS region (ITS1 and ITS2 and the highly conserved 5.8S rDNA exon located in between) and its flanking regions of small and large ribosomal DNA subunits (18S and 26S genes) were amplified and sequenced for Moringa oleifera seedlings. The obtained data have been analyzed by maximum-parsimony and neighbor-joining methods in order to identify the cultivated plant molecularly. The parsimony could not be discriminated between the cultivated taxon from either M. oleifera or M. peregrina. The tree showed clustering of the three species with 100% bootstrap supports without clear identification of the seedlings sample and the neighbor-joining method showed similar tree topology. The genetic distance obtained from the sequenced data indicated that the smallest distance was found between cultivated and wild M. oleifera and between wild M. oleifera and M. peregrina while the distance between the cultivated M. oleifera and M. peregrina was higher. The current data therefore identified the seedlings sample to be affected by the ecological habitat of Saudi Arabia which is considered as an endemic habitat of M. peregrina. Further molecular study is necessary by collecting more wild and cultivated samples of both species in order to identify with clear resolution the molecular relationship between both wild and cultivated Moringa