Abstract
BackgroundAbelmoschus moschatus Medik. leaves and seeds are considered as valuable traditional medicine. The aromatic seeds of this plant are aphrodisiac, ophthalmic, cardio tonic, antispasmodic and used in the treatment of intestinal complaints and check queasiness. To give a scientific basis for traditional usage of this medicinal plant, the seed and leaf extracts were evaluated for their antioxidant, free radical scavenging, antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities.MethodsIn this study, antioxidant, antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities of A. moschatus extracts were evaluated in a series of in vitro assay involving free radicals, reactive oxygen species and their IC50 values were also determined. The antioxidant activities of the seed and leaf extracts of A. moschatus were determined by total antioxidant, DPPH, and ferrous reducing antioxidant property (FRAP) methods. In addition, the antiproliferative activity was also evaluated using colorectal adenocarcinoma and retinoblastoma human cancer cell lines. Moreover, six bacterial reference strains, two gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus), four gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris and Salmonella enterica paratyphi) and one fungal strain (Candida albicans) were used to evaluate its antimicrobial activity.ResultsThe results from this study showed that the antioxidant activities of A. moschatus as determined by the total phenol, flavonoids, total antioxidant and FRAP methods were higher in leaf than that of the seed extracts. On the other hand, the aqueous overnight seed extract (AMS-I) has shown significant radical scavenging activity as in 1, 1- Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, superoxide and lipid peroxidation as compared to other seed and leaf extracts. The AMS-I and AML-IV have shown activity against six and seven microorganisms respectively. Simulteneously, AMS-IV and AML-IV have demonstrated potential antiproliferative activity against two human cell lines - Colorectal adenocarcinoma (COLO-205) and retinoblastoma (Y79).ConclusionThe seed and leaf extracts of A. moschatus possess significant antioxidant activity and could serve as free radical inhibitors or scavenger, or substitute, probably as primary antioxidants. The plant possesses moderate antibacterial activity against bacterial strains used in this study. Hydroalcoholic seed and leaf extracts also exhibited antiproliferative activity against two human cancer cell lines. A. moschatus may therefore, be a good candidate for functional foods as well as pharmaceutics.
Highlights
Abelmoschus moschatus Medik. leaves and seeds are considered as valuable traditional medicine
The total phenol content was significantly higher compared to seed extracts and varied from 9.49 to 13.84 measured as gallic acid equivalents (mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE))/g dw, AML-IV extract showed higher level of total polyphenol content (13.84 mg GAE/g dw), whereas the lowest content of total polyphenol was found in AML-I (9.49 mg of GAE/g dw)
The present study is a step towards the exploration of natural antioxidants from seed and leaf extracts of A. moschatus employing free radical scavenging assays in addition to anti-proliferative and antimicrobial activities
Summary
Abelmoschus moschatus Medik. leaves and seeds are considered as valuable traditional medicine. In recent past, the polyphenols have found to be beneficial as strong antioxidants [10] In this context, evaluation of the polyphenols and antioxidant activity in herbs has become important tool to understand the healing property of medicinal plants. In addition to antioxidant activity, the valuable health benefits of different medicinal plants were claimed as antibiotic agents against pathogenic microorganisms. The antimicrobial compounds generated by these medicinal plants are active against plant and human pathogenic microorganisms [16] They are efficient in the treatment of infectious diseases and at the same time mitigate many of the side effects namely, hypersensitivity, immune-suppression and allergic reactions that are often associated with synthetic antimicrobials [17]. There is an alarming prevalence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria of medical importance [18]
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