Evaluation of antibacterial, antioxidant, and nephroprotective proficiency of methanol extract of Aerva lanata

In vitro-antibacterial properties of ten medicinal plants against common uropathogenic organisms and toxicity determination using brine shrimp lethality assay

BACKGROUND

In recent years, antibiotic resistance has emerged as a global health concern in bacterial infections such as urinary tract infections (UTIs). Uropathogenic Escherichia coli is the most frequent organism responsible for both simple and complex UTIs. Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are frequently associated with complicated UTIs. Sri Lanka has significant resources of medicinal plants used to cure UTIs in Ayurvedic and traditional medicine.

METHODS

Agar well diffusion and broth microdilution methods were used to determine the antibacterial activity of the methanolic extract of ten medicinal plants against P. aeruginosa ATCC27853, S.aureus ATCC25923, E.coli ATCC25922 and their UTI positive strains extracted from positive culture plates. As a preliminary toxicity assay, the Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay (BSLA) was used to determine its cytotoxicity.

RESULTS

The methanolic fruits extract of P. emblica demonstrated the highest antibacterial activity against both E. coli ATCC25922 and E. coli UTI-positive strains. B. diffusa roots extract exhibited the highest activity against S. aureus ATCC25923, while T. chebula fruits extract showed the highest activity against the S. aureus UTI-positive strain. T. involucrata roots extract displayed the highest activity against P. aeruginosa ATCC27853, and Z. officinale rhizomes extract showed the highest activity against the P. aeruginosa UTI-positive strain. Moreover, the plant mixture showed the most substantial antibacterial effect against P. aeruginosa ATCC27853. However, the methanolic seed extract of C. melo did not exhibit any antimicrobial effects against the selected organisms. All plant material, including the plant mixture, showed cytotoxicity according to the BSLA.

CONCLUSION

All the methanolic extracts including P. emblica fruits, O. tenuiflorum whole plant, T. chebula fruits, Z. officinale rhizome, T. terrestris roots, T. involucrata roots, A. lanata whole plant. B. diffusa roots and A. falcatus roots showed antimicrobial effects against selected strains except C. melo seed extract. The results of the present study evidently supports the traditional and ayurvedic use of these plants for the treatment of UTIs. This paves the way for another praise for new plant-based therapeutic product development for the treatment of UTIs. However, further toxicity studies are needed for medicinal dose determination.

Anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and biocompatibility properties of aqueous extract of Tamarindus indica L. fruit coat analyses by in-vitro and in-vivo approaches

The anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and biocompatibility nature of Tamarindus indica L. fruit coat aqueous extract were investigated in this research through in-vitro and in-vivo studies. The anti-inflammatory property was determined through albumin denaturation inhibition and antiprotease activities as up to 39.5% and 41.2% respectively at 30 mg mL-1 concentration. Furthermore, the antidiabetic activity was determined through α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition as up to 62.15% and 67.35% respectively at 30 mg mL-1 dosage. The albino mice based acute toxicity study was performed by different treatment groups (group I-V) with different dosages of aqueous extract to detect the biocompatibility of sample. Surprisingly, findings revealed that the T. indica L. fruit coat aqueous extract had no harmful impacts on any of the groups. Urine, as well as serum parameter analysis, confirmed this. Moreover, the findings of SOD (Superoxide Dismutase), GST (Glutathione-S-transferase), & CAT (Catalase) as well as glutathione peroxidase as well as reduced glutathione antioxidant enzymes studies stated that the aqueous extract possess high antioxidant ability via a dose-dependent way. These findings indicate that T. indica fruit coat aqueous extract contains medicinally important phytochemicals with anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic properties, as well as being biocompatible in nature.

In vitro biofilm inhibition efficacy of Aerva lanata flower extract against Gram negative and Gram-positive biofilm forming bacteria and toxicity analysis using Artemia salina

A biofilm consists of Gram positive and Gram-negative bacteria enclosed in a matrix. Industrial biofouling is caused by biofilms, which can exhibit antimicrobial resistance during infections. Many biofilm studies find that nearly all biofilm communities consist of Gram positive and Gram-negative bacteria. It is therefore necessary to better understand the conserved themes in biofilm formation to develop therapeutics based on biofilm formation. Plant extracts can effectively combat pathogenic bacterial biofilms. This study evaluated the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of Aerva lanata flower extract against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methanol extract of dried A. lanata flower was tested against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa to determine the antibacterial activity (10, 25, 50, 75, 100 μg/mL) resulted in a maximum of 0.5-1 log reduction and 2 log reduction in comparison to the control or untreated bacterial cells respectively. A. lanata showed maximum biofilm inhibition up to 1.5-fold and 1-fold against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. Light microscopic analysis of biofilm treated with A. lanata extract showed efficient distortion of the biofilm matrix. Further, the in vivo analysis of A. lanata in the Artemia salina brine shrimp model showed >50% survival and thus proving the efficacy of A. lanata extract in rescuing the brine shrimps against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus infection.

UPLC‒ESI‒MS/MS profiling of active polyphenolics in Morinda coreia leaf extract and in vitro antioxidant and antibacterial activity

In this study, aqueous and methanol extracts of Morinda coreia (MC) leaves were tested for antioxidant and antibacterial activity under in vitro conditions. Phytochemical analysis using UPLC-ESI-MS revealed the presence of phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, amino acids, proteins, saponins, and tannins. Under in vitro conditions, antioxidant test using DPPH, ABTS, and reducing power demonstrated that the plant leaves play a crucial role in antioxidant activity compared to the commercial antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The ABTS and DPPH free radical scavenging activities showed that the IC₅₀ values of the M. coreia methanol extract were 26.35 μg/mL and 200.23 μg/mL, respectively. The methanol extract of M. coreia contained higher levels of total phenols and flavonoids and higher free radical scavenging capacity than the aqueous extract. FTIR analysis of the methanol extract showed a substantial number of phenols in the functional groups of M. coreia leaves. The well diffusion assay using the methanolic extract of M. coreia (200 μg/mL) leaves showed antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (19 ± 0.85 mm), Proteus sp. (20 ± 0.97 mm), Streptococcus sp. (21 ± 1.29 mm), and Enterobacter sp. (17 ± 0.2 mm). Thus, the present study revealed that the antibacterial and antioxidant activity of M. coreia leaf extract was due to the presence of 18 unknown and 15 primary known polyphenols.

Fabrication, characterization, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diabetic activity of silver nanoparticles synthesized from Azadirachta indica kernel aqueous extract

The Azadirachta indica is an excellent and pharmaceutically valuable phytochemicals enriched traditional medicinal plant. The purpose of the research was to assess the ability of A. indica aqueous kernel extract to synthesize silver nanoparticles as well as their anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic activity in vitro. The obtained results state that the aqueous kernel extract of A. indica can fabricate the silver nanoparticles and be confirmed by standard analytical techniques. Under UV-visible spectrophotometer analysis, the absorbance peak was found at 430 nm was related to the surface plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles. The FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) analysis revealed that numbers of functional groups belong to the pharmaceutically valuable phytochemicals, which act as reducing, capping, and stabilizing agent on silver nanoparticles synthesis. The size and shape of the silver nanoparticles were examined as 19.27-22.15 nm and spherical in shape. Interestingly, this kernel fabricated silver nanoparticles possess a reasonable anti-inflammatory (69.77%) and anti-diabetic (73.5%) activity at 100 μg mL^-1 and these were partially comparable with standards (anti-inflammatory: 81.15%; anti-diabetic: 87.9%). Thus, the aqueous kernel extract fabricated silver nanoparticles can be considered for further in-vivo study to assess the practical possibility to promote as a pharmaceutical agent.

Antibacterial and Anticancer Potentials of Presynthesized Photosensitive Plectranthus cylindraceus Oil/TiO2/Polyethylene Glycol Polymeric Bionanocomposite

The present study is concerned with the fabrication of the bifunctional Plectranthus cylindraceus oil/TiO2/polyethylene glycol polymeric film for antibacterial and anticancer activities. The suggested film is based on the utility of naturally extracted P. cylindraceus oil in the formation of the polymeric bionanocomposite film decorated with TiO2 nanoparticles. The bionanocomposite film was fabricated by incorporating 15 w% of P. cylindraceus oil with 10 w% polyethylene glycol and 5 w% TiO2 nanoparticles. The active components of P. cylindraceus oil were verified using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The surface morphology of the resulted bionanocomposite film was characterized by various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The antibacterial potential of the fabricated bionanocomposite film was investigated against four pathogenic strains. The obtained results revealed excellent sensitivity against the bacterial strains, particularly E. coli and S. aureus, with minimum inhibitory concentration 320 µg mL-1 and minimum bactericidal concentration 640 and 1280 µg mL-1 for E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. Polymeric bionanocomposite exerted significant cytotoxicity against human lung carcinoma cell lines in a concentration-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 42.7 ± 0.25 μg mL-1. Safety assessment test against peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) demonstrated that the bionanocomposite is nontoxic in nature. Bionanocomposite also showed potent photocatalytic effects. Overall, the results concluded that the bionanocomposite has expressed scope for multifaceted biomedical applications.