Phytochemical screening, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cytotoxicity evaluation of the leaf extracts of Bidens pilosa by the T'boli tribe in South Cotabato, Philippines

Abstract

This study determined the bioactive compounds and evaluated the antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cytotoxicity activities of Bidens pilosa aqueous and ethanolic extracts against bacterial and fungal pathogens and various human cancer cell lines. The B. pilosa leaves were extracted using ethanol and water as solvents. The aqueous (BA) and ethanolic (BE) extracts of B. pilosa were subjected to qualitative phytochemical screening. The phosphomolybdate method was used to determine the total antioxidant activity of the extracts. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida tropicalis was determined using the Kirby-Bauer method. Lastly, the brine shrimp lethality test (BSLT) and 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay in the human breast, colon, and liver cancer cell lines were used to evaluate the cytotoxicity activities of the more potent extract. Steroids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, and cyanogenic glycosides were present in B. pilosa leaf extracts. BE showed higher antioxidant and antimicrobial activities than BA. However, BSLT results showed BA was more toxic than BE based on their lethal concentration 50 (LC50) values after 24- hour exposure. MTT assay also showed that BA was more potent against the colon cancer (HCT116) cell line, followed by breast (MCF-7) and liver (Hep G2) cancer cell lines. The B. pilosa extracts possess potent antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer activities. These biological activities are due to the presence of various natural products present in its leaves. Further investigations are needed to understand the pharmacological properties of B. pilosa fully.

Keywords

• Free radicals
• HCT 116
• human cancer
• MTT assay
• traditional medicine

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