Analysis of antibacterial and cytotoxic potential of medicinal plants from Cholistan desert, Pakistan

Samina Ejaz; Faiz-Ul-Hassan Nasim; Iqra Abdullah; Samia Rashid; Muhammad Ashraf

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2023.103750

Analysis of antibacterial and cytotoxic potential of medicinal plants from Cholistan desert, Pakistan

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2023 Sep;30(9):103750. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2023.103750. Epub 2023 Jul 28.

Authors

Samina Ejaz¹, Faiz-Ul-Hassan Nasim², Iqra Abdullah³, Samia Rashid⁴, Muhammad Ashraf⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (IBBB), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan.
² Institute of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (IBBB), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan.
³ Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (IBBB), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan.
⁴ Institute of Chemistry, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the antibacterial and cytotoxic activity of 03 medicinal plants, Calligonum polygonides, Farsetia hamiltonii, and Pulcaria crispa, from Cholistan desert, Pakistan. The active constituents of plants species were extracted in 05 different solvents and the extracts were tested against various bacterial strains and brine shrimps. Although all Calligonum polygonides's extracts except chloroform were active against Staphylococcus aureus the most active was the acetone extract (21 ± 0.00 mm at 200 μg/disc) and activity was better than Caricef (p-value 0.03). While its water extract was more potent (18 ± 1.45 mm at 200 μg/disc) than Augmentin and Caricef (p-value < 0.005). The methanol extract's activity (15 ± 0.39 mm in 200 μg/disc) was comparable to Fucidin against Proteus vulgaris (p-value > 0.99) and activity of diethyl ether extract against Escherichia coli (10 ± 1.16 mm in 200 μg/disc) was same as of Urixin (p-value 0.91). Farsetia hamiltonii's acetone extract against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (10 ± 0.15 mm in 1 μg/disc) was more active than Augmentin Caricef and Cefotax (p-value < 0.02) and against Staphylococcus aureus (15 ± 1.15 mm in 200 μg/disc) activity was higher than Caricef (p-value 0.03). All Pulicaria crispa's extracts except water extract were found active against Staphylococcus aureus. However, the diethyl ether extract was most effective (25 + 0.00 mm at 150 μg /disc) and activity was more than Augmentin, Oxy-tetracycline, Fucidin, Urixin, Ceftriaxone (p-value < 0.05). Although all extracts were exhibited cytotoxic activity, the Calligonum polygonides's acetone extract (100%), Farsetia hamiltonii's diethyl ether extract (90%) and Pulicaria crispa's methanol extract (100%) were most active at 1000 μg/ml concentration. This study validated the medicinal significance of the studied plants and thus opens the way for their therapeutic applications.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity; Bacterial strains; Brine shrimp; Calligonum polygonides; Cyotoxicity; Farsetia hamiltoni; Pulicaria crispa.