Evaluation of the Anti-mitotic and Bacteriostatic Activities of the Fruiting Bodies of Pleurotus Ostreatus (Jacq. Ex. Fr) P. Kumm. (Pleurotaceae)

Abstract

Edible mushrooms aside being taken as foods, are used in ethnomedicine in the management of various ailments notably tumours and related ailments whose pathophysiology are linked to oxidative stress. This study investigated the anti-mitotic, and antibacterial activities of the aqueous extract of the edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus based on ethno-medicine.The Allium cepa anti-mitotic assay model was used for anti-proliferative investigation of the defatted aqueous ethanol extract at concentration range of: 10.00 – 0.08 ng/mL following a two-fold serial dilution approach. Methotrexate (0.25 ng/mL) and portable water were used as reference standard for positive control and negative control respectively. The student t-test was used for statistical analysis (p < 0.05). Antibacterial susceptibility evaluation against clinical isolates of selected pathogenic organisms: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aereus, and Bacillus subtilis was done using the Agar dilution method at 1000 and 10 µg/mL. The aqueous extract showed a dose and time dependent anti-mitotic activity with the three higher doses: 10.00, 5.00 and 2.50 ng/mL exhibiting complete inhibition of mitosis which was comparable to the reference drug methotrexate (0.25 ng/mL) after 96 hours incubation period. Although the aqueous extract was not bacteriocidal at the test concentration, a dose dependent bacteriostatic effect against E. coli, and B. subtilis was observed. The observed anti-mitotic activity of this mushroom validates its ethnomedicinal use in the treatment of tumours and related diseases.