Separation of crude methanol extract of Plantago major root: identification of phytochemicals and assessment of biological activities.

Plantago major root extracts were used for analysis by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The anticancer and antibacterial functions of extracts were also investigated. The dichloromethane extract of P. major had the highest inhibitory effect against Salmonella paratyphi (18.00 ± 1.4 mm) at 100 mg/mL concentration. The lowest MIC was also achieved for S. paratyphi treated with dichloromethane extract of P. major (1.5 mg/mL). The minimum MBC (2 mg/mL) was observed for dichloromethane extract of P. major root against S. paratyphi. IC50 values of dichloromethane extracts of P. major root (184.84 µg/mL) against HCT116 were lower than the ethyl acetate and butanol extracts (212.41 µg/mL and 223.93 µg/mL) at 72h. The butanol extract exhibited the most IC50 value on HEK293 (748.19 µg/mL). The biological properties of P. major extracts may be assigned to the presence of numerous compounds detected in GC/MS analysis including n-Hexadecanoic acid, Linolenic acid, Palmitic acid, methyl ester, Stearic acid.

Antiproliferative assay of suma or Brazilian ginseng (Hebanthe eriantha) methanolic extract on HCT116 and 4T1 cancer cell lines, in vitro toxicity on Artemia salina larvae, and antibacterial activity.

Hebanthe eriantha is a medicinal plant used in folk medicine and a subject of commercial interest. The cytotoxicity effects from H. eriantha root extracts on cancerous and normal cells were assessed by the MTT method, and in vitro toxicity was evaluated on Artemia salina. The inhibition of the proliferation of bacteria and MIC values were examined by the disc diffusion and the broth microdilution method, respectively. Human colon cancer HCT116 and mouse breast tumour model 4T1 cells treated with methanolic extract showed a significant decrease in viability of cells with IC50: 272.6 and 88.5 µg/mL at 72h, respectively. The methanolic extract of H. eriantha showed moderate toxicity against A. salina (LC50: 589.4 µg/mL). In antimicrobial activity, the methanolic extract showed the highest inhibitory function against S. aureus and P. vulgaris (17.5 and 16 mm) with MICs of 500 µg/mL. The results confirmed the potential of plant roots as cytotoxic agents.

In vitro elicitation and detection of apigenin, catalpol and gallic acid in hairy root culture of Plantago major L. and assessment of cytotoxicity and anti-bacterial activity of its methanolic extract.

The aim of this study was to establish the hairy root (HR) culture of Plantago major to evaluate the accumulation of apigenin, catalpol and gallic acid after elicitation and investigate the biological activity of its methanolic extraction. The highest transformation frequency was obtained by Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain A4, 0.5 mg/L 6-Benzylaminopurine in pre-cultivation medium, 150 µM acetosyringone in co-cultivation medium (1/2 MS), and immersion method for inoculation of leaf explants. The production of apigenin, catalpol and gallic acid compounds were significantly affected by treatment of 1.18 mM AgNO3 at 24 h which yielded 4.30, 8.24 and 2.89-fold increase, respectively. The assessment of anti-bacterial activity showed that the methanolic extracts of the HRs elicited with 1.18 mM AgNO3 were significantly active against Proteus vulgaris (PTCC 1182) (MIC = 25 mg/mL and MBC = 25 mg/mL). Furthermore, the MTT assay revealed that the methanolic extracts of the HRs were cytotoxic on the SW-480 cell (IC50=337.56 ± 1.82 µg/mL).