In vitro evaluations of antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer potential of phytolacca americana l. (pokeweed) seed extract

Abstract

In this study, different parts of Phytolacca americana L. (Pokeweed) fruit from Turkiye were investigated for their antioxidant, antibacterial, antibiofilm and anticancer potentials. The radical scavenging activities, reducing power and total phenolic content were determined to appraise of the antioxidant potentials. The antibacterial and antibiofilm activities of the extracts against Enterococcus faecalis, Yersinia enterocolitica, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhimurium were evaluated by using agar-well diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and biofilm inhibitory concentration (BIC) assays. In addition of latening the onset of apoptosis depending on dose, the potential of the anti-proliferative effects was investigated on MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. The highest free radical scavenging activity and phenolic content were found in the seed extract. Seed extract showed the highest inhibition zones and significant antibacterial activity at 2.5-5 mg/mL MIC concentrations against tested bacterial strains. More significantly, seed extract was found effective on inhibition of early phase biofilm formation at 2.5-10 mg/mL. BIC concentrations against tested bacterial strains. Next, the main mechanisms of cell death of the seed extract in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells were investigated. Accordingly, when apoptosis was evaluated morphologically, late apoptosis was observed in cells that showed both Hoechst 33342 and Propidium Iodide (PI) positivity in a dose-dependent manner. This study showed that P. americana seed extract can contribute to alternative medicine studies and have potential power in pharmaceutical industry.