article · Pharmaceuticals
Ethanolic extracts of carob tree leaves, containing predominantly phenolic acids and flavonoids, exhibit marked antioxidant, antibacterial, and antitumour activities in laboratory testing. The extract demonstrated strong radical-scavenging capabilities comparable to ascorbic acid across multiple antioxidant assays. In microbiological tests, it displayed broad-spectrum antibacterial action against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, alongside moderate activity against tested fungal strains. Furthermore, the extract showed dose-dependent cytotoxicity against three human breast cancer cell lines in vitro. Safety evaluations using the comet assay revealed no significant DNA damage at lower concentrations up to 50 micrograms per millilitre, though genotoxic effects appeared at a higher dose of 100 micrograms per millilitre. Computational screening further analysed the pharmacokinetic profiles and biological activities of its constituent compounds.
Carob is an established agro-pastoral tree traditionally used to treat ailments. Providing empirical evidence of its bioactive properties helps scientifically substantiate traditional botanical practices. Clarifying the safe dosing thresholds and biological actions of such natural extracts is essential for researchers exploring new plant-derived compounds to combat bacterial resistance, oxidative stress, and tumour cell proliferation.
This research could eventually inform the development of plant-derived preservatives, functional ingredients, or early drug discovery leads for oncology and anti-infectives. However, the work represents early-stage laboratory research based strictly on in vitro cell assays, microbiological screens, and computational predictions. Substantial downstream research, including in vivo efficacy testing, formulation design, and safety profiling to navigate the identified genotoxicity limits, is needed before commercial application is viable.
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The botanical species Ceratonia siliqua L., commonly referred to as the Carob tree, and locally as “L’Kharrûb”, holds significance as an agro-sylvo-pastoral species, and is traditionally utilized in Morocco for treating a variety of ailments. This current investigation aims to ascertain the antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic properties of the ethanolic extract of C. siliqua leaves (CSEE). Initially, we analyzed the chemical composition of CSEE through high-performance liquid chromatography with Diode-Array Detection (HPLC-DAD). Subsequently, we conducted various assessments, including DPPH scavenging capacity, β-carotene bleaching assay, ABTS scavenging, and total antioxidant capacity assays to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the extract. In this study, we investigated the antimicrobial properties of CSEE against five bacterial strains (two gram-positive, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus faecalis; and three gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli, Escherichia vekanda, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and two fungi (Candida albicans, and Geotrichum candidum). Additionally, we evaluated the cytotoxicity of CSEE on three human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and MDA-MB-436) and assessed the potential genotoxicity of the extract using the comet assay. Through HPLC-DAD analysis, we determined that phenolic acids and flavonoids were the primary constituents of the CSEE extract. The results of the DPPH test indicated a potent scavenging capacity of the extract with an IC50 of 302.78 ± 7.55 µg/mL, which was comparable to that of ascorbic acid with an IC50 of 260.24 ± 6.45 µg/mL. Similarly, the β-carotene test demonstrated an IC50 of 352.06 ± 12.16 µg/mL, signifying the extract’s potential to inhibit oxidative damage. The ABTS assay revealed IC50 values of 48.13 ± 3.66 TE µmol/mL, indicating a strong ability of CSEE to scavenge ABTS radicals, and the TAC assay demonstrated an IC50 value of 165 ± 7.66 µg AAE/mg. The results suggest that the CSEE extract had potent antioxidant activity. Regarding its antimicrobial activity, the CSEE extract was effective against all five tested bacterial strains, indicating its broad-spectrum antibacterial properties. However, it only showed moderate activity against the two tested fungal strains, suggesting it may not be as effective against fungi. The CSEE exhibited a noteworthy dose-dependent inhibitory activity against all the tested tumor cell lines in vitro. The extract did not induce DNA damage at the concentrations of 6.25, 12.5, 25, and 50 µg/mL, as assessed by the comet assay. However, the 100 µg/mL concentration of CSEE resulted in a significant genotoxic effect compared to the negative control. A computational analysis was conducted to determine the physicochemical and pharmacokinetic characteristics of the constituent molecules present in the extract. The Prediction of Activity Spectra of Substances (PASS) test was employed to forecast the potential biological activities of these molecules. Additionally, the toxicity of the molecules was evaluated using the Protox II webserver.
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DOI: 10.3390/ph16060840
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