Pharmacological and phytochemical evaluation of four medicinal plants for antimicrobial and anticancer activity

Abstract

Medicinal plants are rich in a wide variety of secondary metabolites such as tannins, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, flavonoids etc. which have been found in vitro to have antimicrobial and anticancer properties. In recent years, there have been an increasing number of studies to discover new bioactive compounds from plant origin with the hope to control antibiotic-resistant bacteria and growth of cancerous cells. Phytochemicals have the capability to inhibit many pathways that lead to cancer. A number of medicinal plants have been recognized as valuable resources of natural antimicrobial compounds as an alternative that can potentially be effective in the treatment of bacterial infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria. The present study was conducted with the objectives to screen the extracts of dried roots Gloriosa superba L., dried roots of Centaurea behen L. dried fruits/ beads of Elaeocarpus ganitrus Roxb., dried leaves of Ficus religiosa L. for different classes of phytoconstituents; to find out antimicrobial potential of these plants against multidrug resistant (MDR) strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and to investigate their anticancer/antitumor activity on Lung cancer cell lines (A- 549), Human breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB 231), Colon cancer cell lines (HCT-116). Cytotoxic activity was evaluated against non-cancerous cell lines (MCF-10A). Hexane, chloroform, methanol and water were the solvents used for extraction of phytoconstituents by Soxhlet method. Qualitative assay for presence of different primary and secondary metabolites was newlineperformed using standardized phytochemical screening methods. The antibacterial activity of plant extracts was determined by cup plate method at concentrations of 50,100, 200, 500 and 1000 and#956;g/mL. Anti-proliferative potential of the plant extracts was evaluated by MTT [3-(4,5-dimethythiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide] assay using concentrations 10, 25 and 50 and#956;g/100and#956;L.