Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Evaluation of the antimicrobial and anticancer properties of the fruits of Synsepalum dulcificum (Sapotaceae)

Sheryar Afzal¹, Appala V Raju², Chandramathi Samudi Raju³, Genevieve Chong Zhen Wuii², Olorunfemi A Eseyin⁴

¹Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, MAHSA University, Selangor, Malaysia; ²Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, MAHSA University, Bandar Saujana Putra, Selangor; ³Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia; ⁴Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

For correspondence:- Olorunfemi Eseyin Email: olorunfemieseyin@uniuyo.edu.ng Tel:+2348065161478

Accepted: 21 August 2021 Published: 30 September 2021

Citation: Afzal S, Raju AV, Raju CS, Wuii GC, Eseyin OA. Evaluation of the antimicrobial and anticancer properties of the fruits of Synsepalum dulcificum (Sapotaceae). Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(9):1925-1930 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i9.20

© 2021 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the antimicrobial and anticancer activities of the fruit of Synsepalum dulcificum (Sapotaceae) against six bacterial strains and on two different colorectal cancer cell lines, respectively.

Methods: The dried fruit of the plant was extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus successively with petroleum ether and ethanol, and concentrated in a rotary evaporator to obtain petroleum ether and ethanol extract, respectively. Phytochemical screening was done on the two extracts. The antimicrobial effects of the extracts against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogene, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus vulgaris were evaluated using agar well diffusion technique while the anticancer effect of the ethanol extract was assessed on HCT-116 and primary colon epithelial (PCE) cell lines by MTT assay.

Results: The results indicate that the petroleum ether extract of Synsepalum dulcificum fruits exerted stronger antimicrobial activity than the ethanol extract. The ethanol extract also showed significant anticancer activity (p < 0.05). The calculated half-maximal concentration (IC₅₀) of the extract on HCT-116 cells at 24, 48, and 72 h are 14.99, 8.97, and 8.54 μg/mL, respectively, while the IC₅₀ of the extract on PCE cell lines at 24, 48, and 72 h are 236.25, 206.09, and 196.72 μg/mL, respectively. The extract was more toxic to cancer cells than to normal cells.

Conclusion: The results of this study lend some justification for the use of the fruits of Synsepalum dulcificum as an antibacterial and anticancer agent.

Keywords: Synsepalum dulcificum, HCT-116, Primary colon epithelial (PCE) cell line, Antimicrobial activity, Anticancer activity