Traditional medicine has led to the discovery of important bioactive substances that have found uses in several health related areas. In the present work, we studied antimicrobial and anticancer properties of bioactive molecules in Rhoeo discolor extracts; a plant commonly used in folklore medicine in Mexico. For antimicrobial properties, we evaluated the in vitro activity via agar-well diffusion assay against marker microorganisms, for their importance in human health; namely, Gram-positive Listeria innocua and Streptococcus mutans; Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the fungus Candida albicans. Ten different plant extracts were tested in eight different doses on all the microorganisms. Results demonstrated that P. aeruginosa was the least affected by the different extract exposure. However, low doses of these extracts did produce a statistical significant effect on the other assayed microorganisms. Some extracts were effective as bactericidal and others as bacteriostatic agents. These results suggest that the addition of certain extracts in human diet or sanitizing products could increase aseptic conditions. For the anticancer effect, different controlled doses of each extract were tested on three human cancer cell lines HT 29, PC-3, Hep G2, and a control fibroblast cell line NIH 3T3. Results statistically demonstrated a significant growth inhibition or antiproliferativo activities in cancer cell lines, especially HT 29, but very little damage on the fibroblast cell line. These results provide meaningful data that suggest that phytochemicals contained in Rhoeo discolor extracts are bioactive components with potential applications as antimicrobials and anticarcinogen.

Potential antimicrobial and anticarcinogenic properties of Rhoeo discolor (Tradescantia spathacea) extracts

250th National Meeting (2015)

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