Abstract
Ziziphus mauritiana L., is a fruit tree well known for its nutritional and medicinal benefits. The aim of the current study was to investigate the chemical composition as well as biological (antioxidant, antimicrobial, antitumor and anticancer) attributes of different solvent extracts from the leaves of Ziziphus mauritiana. It was established by colorimetric method that chloroform extract had greater amount of total phenolics (84.69 +/- 0.92 mu g GAE/mg of extract), while methanol extract contained higher content of total flavonoids (46.94 +/- 1.55 mu g QE/mg of extract). Meanwhile, methanol extract exhibited higher DPPH free radical scavenging potential (IC50 = 0.11 mg/mL) and antimicrobial (antibacterial and antifungal) activity among others. Overall, E. coli was noted to be the most resistant microbial strain against all the tested extracts. Chloroform extract showed strongest antitumor (IC50 = 70.74 mu g/mL) and anticancer activity (IC50 values of 27.78 and 18.32 mu g/mL against human cancer cell lines U937 and HCT-116, respectively) and significantly inhibited the viability of these cell lines. According to GC-MS analysis methyl stearate (15.59%), plamitic acid (38.55%) and alpha-linolenic acid (26.45%) were identified as the major components of methanol, chloroform and hexane extracts, respectively in addition to presence of several other bioactives. The results of this study conclude that Z. mauritiana leaves extract with efficient biological activities can be explored for potential uses as antioxidant, antitumor and anticancer agents for pharmaceutical industry.