Abstract
Purpose: To explore the phytoconstituents of Acacia ehrenbergiana Hayne as well as its biological effects.
Methods: Determination of phytoconstituents of ethanol extract of the plant was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. Antibacterial screening was conducted against the isolates of Gram-positive and Gram-negative microbes while the anti-carcinogenic properties of the ethanol extract on cancerous cells were investigated by 3-(4,5-dimethyfthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazollum bromide (MTT) cytotoxicity assay against breast MCF7, ovary cancer A2780 and colon cancer HT29 cells, respectively, in addition to normal MRC5 fibroblast cells.
Results: GC-MS analysis identified 15 different phytochemicals in the ethanol extract. The extract exerted significant antimicrobial activity with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) in the range 1.56 - 6.25 and 3.12 - 12.5 mg/L, respectively, against all test bacterial strains. Cytotoxic activity, obtained by MTT assay, was 28.81 +/- 0.99, 12.50 +/- 2.50, 23.90 +/- 0.74 and 50.58 +/- 3.24 mu g/mL, against the three cancer cell lines and normal fibroblast, respectively. MTT cytotoxicity results was further confirmed by clonogenic survival assay on MCF7 cells.
Conclusion: This study highlights the potential interesting ethnopharmacological applications of Acacia ehrenbergiana Hayne to treat drug-resistant pathogens as standardized extract.