Detection of Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and Cytotoxicity Activities of Fusarium oxysporum F01 Isolated from Catharanthus roseus Collected in Vietnam

The ability of endophytic fungi to produce valuable bioactive compounds when surviving in medicinal herbs. Finding out endophytic fungi originated from Catharanthus roseus with antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxicity activities is important for pharmaceutical development. The isolation was based on the morphology of fungi. Identification was performed by sequencing 18S rRNA that was compared with known genes using Blast search in the combination of phylogenic analysis by using Clustal W and PhyML in GenomeNet. For the antimicrobial test, the agar diffusion method was used. DPPH scavenging assay for the antioxidant activity determination by using spectrophotometry. The cytotoxicity test was carried out by Sulforhodamine B method. LC-MS was applied for predicting components. We isolated the Fusarium oxysporum F01 strain originated from Catharanthus roseus. The aqueous extracts showed inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 (15.00 ± 0.50 mm), Serratia marcescens ATCC 14756 (9.00 ± 0.87 mm), Vibrio parahaemolyticus ATCC 17802 (15.50 ± 0.87 mm), Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 (12.50 ± 0.50 mm). The antioxidant activity of the extract obtained from the supernatant was determined with an IC50 value of about 11 µg/mL. The extract also showed cytotoxicity effect on liver cancer cell line (HepG2) and breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) with the percentage of inhibition of 84.47 ± 3.18 and 94.69 ± 1.59, respectively. LC-MS was used to point out the presence of pratol, a melanogenesis agent. The study provided more interesting information about Fusarium oxysporum F01 isolated in Catharanthus roseus grown in Vietnam, contributing to pharmaceutical sources in the world.

Review Article: Medicinal uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicological properties of Elaeodendron croceum

Elaeodendron croceum is a shrub or a small tree used as an emetic, purgative and herbal medicine for cough, sore throat, fever, tuberculosis, blood in sputum, chest congestion, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) opportunistic infections and to clean the digestive tract. Phytochemical compounds identified from the species include alkaloids, cardiac glucoside, flavonoids, phenols, proanthocyanidins, saponins, sugars, tannins and triterpenoids. Pharmacological studies revealed that E. croceum extracts and compounds have antimycobacterial, anti-arthritic, antibacterial, anti-HIV, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and cytotoxicity activities. Future studies should focus on ethnopharmacological safety and efficacy of E. croceum extracts and compounds isolated from the species using in vivo preclinical studies and clinical trials.

Biogenic Silver Nanoparticles of Clinacanthus nutans as Antioxidant with Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Effects

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) previously synthesised using leaf (AgNP-L) and stem (AgNP-S) extracts of Clinacanthus nutans (C. nutans) were tested to evaluate antimicrobial, antioxidant, and cytotoxicity activities. The AgNPs showed good inhibition against bacteria, but not fungi. The inhibition results showed the highest activity against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) with 11.35 mm (AgNP-L) and 11.52 mm (AgNP-S), while the lowest inhibition was against Escherichia coli (E. coli) with 9.22 mm (AgNP-L) and 9.25 mm (AgNP-S) in the disc diffusion method. The same trend of results was noted in the well diffusion method. The IC50 of AgNP-L and AgNP-S in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assays was 417.05 μg/mL and 434.60 μg/mL, as well as 304.31 μg/mL and 326.83 μg/mL, respectively. Ferric reducing power (FRAP) assay showed that AgNP-L [872.389 μmol/L Fe(II)] and AgNP-S [612.770 μmol/L Fe(II)] exhibited significantly ( p < 0.05) greater antioxidant activities than leaf extract (CNL) [152.260 μmol/L Fe(II)] and stem extract (CNS) [110.445 μmol/L Fe(II)] of C. nutans. The AgNPs were also proven to possess cytotoxic effects on the breast (MCF-7), cervical (HeLa), and colon (HT-29) cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. AgNP-S and AgNP-L showed significantly ( p < 0.05) higher cytotoxicity against MCF-7 (117.43 μg/mL) and HT-29 (78.47 μg/mL), respectively. In conclusion, the biosynthesised AgNPs from aqueous extract leaves and stem of C. nutans have demonstrated promising potential towards antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cytotoxicity activities.