An Investigation Of The Phytochemistry And Biological Activity Of Tulbaghia Violacea

Abstract

Medicinal plants are the most important source of life saving drugs for most of the world’s population. The aim of this study was to assess Tulbaghia violacea as an anticancer agent, to determine the antimicrobial activity, anticancer activity, antioxidant and total polyphenol activity, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity effects to be used in the development of a novel anticancer remedy. Tulbaghia violacea bulb, root and leaf extracts were collected, dried and finely ground with aqueous and methanol/dichloromethane solvents. The extracts were tested for their growth inhibitory effects using the sulforhodamine B assay; genotoxicity activity was determined using NucRed Live 647; antimicrobial activity was determined using p-Iodonitrotetrazolium chloride assay; antioxidant activity was determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay; and the gallic acid method was used to determine the concentration of phenols. The extracts from T. violacea were classified as weak or inactive against the human cell lines TK-10 (renal), PC3 (prostate) and HeLa (cervix) cancer. Aqueous and methanol/dichloromethane extracts of T. violacea were both non-toxic when tested against the WI-38 cell line. The result of the test for genotoxicity determination showed that leaf water extract induced the formation of micronuclei and could be considered genotoxic. The extract of T. violacea exhibited high antioxidant activity compared to the standard. Total phenolic determination showed that water leaf extract had the highest concentration of phenolics and bulb methanol/dichloromethane extract the lowest. The antibacterial activity showed interesting results with certain plant extracts, indicating Gram specificity. Water leaf extracts and water bulb extract from T. violacea both showed activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae (Gram-negative) but not against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive). Root water extract showed a similar result at the lower concentrations. The high concentrations of root methanol/dichloromethane extract showed a more drastic increase in the percentage cell death of S. aureus than that of K. pneumoniae. Methanol/dichloromethane bulb extract also seemed to be effective against S. aureus. The extracts of T. violacea have the potential to be developed as an antimicrobial agent, but the standard has higher antimicrobial activity. These results indicated the safety and importance of T. violacea as a potential for the development of a novel drug.