Investigation of phytochemical contents, in vitro antioxidant and antibacterial behavior and in vivo anti-inflammatory potential of Ecballium elaterium methanol fruits extract

Abstract Ecballium elaterium species are mostly used as therapeutic agents and food ingredient. The current work was designed to investigate phytochemical contents, antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties of methanol fruits extract of Ecballium elaterium. Good antioxidant activity was observed with IC50 values of 156 ± 4 and 377 ± 6 μg/mL for DPPH and ABTS, respectively, and EC50 of 126 ± 4 µg/mL for FRAP assays, which is related with their richness in total phenolic, flavonoid and condensed tannins contents. The results of antibacterial activity showed the effectiveness of methanol extract against Bacillus cereus with value of inhibition zone diameter of 15 ± 0 mm and a MIC and MBC values of 6 ± 0 and 12 ± 0 mg/mL, respectively. The in vivo anti-inflammatory effects have been also studied by carrageenan induced rat paw edema assay and the results revealed that a dose of 75 mg/kg induced a significant inhibition of 66.4% at 2 h. FT-IR spectral data justified the presence of biological functional groups such as ─OH, C─H, C─O, C─C and C=O. These results highlighted the potential using of Ecballium elaterium fruits extract as natural antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents for food applications and for the pharmaceutical industry.

Anti-microbial screening and cytotoxic activity of aerial part of Thymelaea hirsuta L. essential oil growing in south-west Tunisia.

This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of essential oil isolated by the hydro-distillation of aerial parts of Thymelaea hirsuta. The antimicrobial activity of the oil was evaluated against eight bacterial and three fungal pathogenic strains. The results revealed that the essential oil exhibited a moderate-to-potent anti-microbial activity against all the microorganisms tested. Gram-positive bacteria were noted to be more sensitive to the oil than gram-negative bacteria and yeasts. In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation against HeLa cell lines showed that the essential oil exhibited moderate cytotoxicity on human tumor cells, with a high IC50 value of 175µg/mL. To the author's knowledge, this is the first study reporting on the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of Thymelaea hirsuta essential oil. Overall, the results indicate that the T. hirsuta essential oil has a number of attractive properties that might open new promising opportunities for the control or prevention of a wide range of microbial infections and cancers and can facilitate the use of essential oils as natural preservatives against spoilage microorganisms in food systems.

Nutritional constituents, phytochemical profiles, in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of various solvent extracts from grape seeds (Vitis vinifera L.).

The present study revealed that the nutritive value of grape seeds (Vitis vinifera L.) was 383.55±0.13 Kcal/100 g, with magnesium as the most abundant mineral element (70.44±0.88 mg/L). The maximum phenolic (392.58±1.70mg of GAE/g), flavonoid (256.16±1.60 mg of QE/g), and tannin (30.95±0.17mg of CE/g) contents were also found in the ethanol, dichloromethane, and hexane extracts, respectively. The major phytochemical compounds in the ethyl acetate extract were identified via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The ethanol extract has the highest antioxidant activity (IC50=140±1.20 µg/mL for DPPH, 145.28±0.45mg α-tocopherol/g for total antioxidant capacity, and EC50=80±1.41 µg/mL for ferric-reducing power assays). For ß-carotene test, the highest antioxidant activity was obtained in the hexane extract. A satisfactory antimicrobial activity was found against a panel of microorganisms with the ethyl acetate extract as the best antimicrobial agent. Additionally, it was found that the bactericidal concentration required for the grape seed extract to kill Listeria monocytogenes should be less than 12.50 mg/mL (minimum inhibitory concentration=4).