ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Since antiquity, C. babylonica (L.) L. extracts has been used as a remedy for primary health care in traditional medicine. In this study, a total of seven different crude extracts (acetone, chloroform, hexane, ethylacetate, methanol, ethanol and water) from branches and leaves of C. babylonica (L.) L. were prepared to determine antimicrobial and antiproliferative activity against cancer cell lines. MATERIAL AND METHODS: MIC assay was used for antimicrobial activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria, and one yeast. MTT assay was applied to screen the antiproliferative activity of seven extracts, and to determine dose- and time-dependent effects of the aceton extract on A549, PC-3, MCF-7, and HeLa cell lines. RESULTS: The aceton extract of C.babylonica (L.) L. showed the best antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus, P. aeruginosa and C. albicans (MIC: 1.6 mg/mL). GC-MS analyses allowed six compounds to be determined; the main constituents of acetone extract from C. babylonica (L.) L. were diacetone alcohol (53.47 %), 1-dexadecene (10.19 %) and 1-tetradecene (8.67 %). In addition, seven different solvent extracts at 500 µg/mL caused antiproliferative activity between 84% - 88%, compared to control. Dose-dependent effects of the extracts on A549 cells indicated that chloroform, ethyl acetate, and aceton extract were the most effective extracts with the IC50 values of 9, 33, and 36 µg/mL, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results clearly demonstrate that C. babylonica (L.) L. exhibited a strong antimicrobial effect and antiproliferative activity against cancer cells in vitro. Further studies are required to isolate and characterize the active pure compounds responsible for the antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities.
Subject(s)
Anti-Infective Agents/pharmacology , Cell Proliferation/drug effects , Centaurea/chemistry , Growth Inhibitors/pharmacology , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Anti-Infective Agents/chemistry , Bacteria/drug effects , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Survival/drug effects , Female , Growth Inhibitors/chemistry , Humans , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Plant Extracts/chemistry , Yeasts/drug effectsABSTRACT
Boron (B) toxicity, which occurs in semi-arid and arid environments, can adversely affect the growth and yield of many plants. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of different concentrations of boric acid (3, 6, 9 and 12 mM) on growth, oxidative stress and genotoxicity parameters in root and shoot tissues of wheat seedlings. Our results indicate that B stress inhibits root and shoot growth of wheat in a concentration-dependent manner, and leads to increases in TBARS and H2O2 contents in shoot tissue. Moreover, our findings suggest that high concentrations of B may exert a genotoxic effect on wheat. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to evaluate the effect of B stress on genotoxicity in both root and shoot tissues of wheat.
