Examination of anticancer and some biological properties of leafand flower extracts of echinacea

Echinacea is a traditional plant which has significant value as a medicinal herb in several countries. It is mostly utilized based on the immunological properties and particularly in the treatment of respiratory infections. This research study was conducted to investigate the biological effects of different Echinacea flower and leaf extracts for the activities of antimicrobial, anti-tumor and DNA protection. Antimicrobial efficiency of Echinacea flower and leaf extracts were examined utilizing water, methanol and ethyl acetate extracts, which tested against 21 gram positive and gram negative bacteria. The MIC (Minimum inhibitory concentration) and MBC (Minimum bactericidal concentration) values of extracts were determined. All the bacteria strains presented sensitivity to Echinacea extracts, however, the methanol extract presented significant MIC against all the microorganisms with MIC value range 62.5-125 μg/mL. In addition, the excellent antimicrobial activity for the leaf and flower extracts was against the gram-positive bacteria, such as Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 2521. A DNA protection assay for all extracts was tested. Echinacea flower and leaf extracts at two concentrations (10 and 50 mg/mL), did not show any DNA protective effect. Cytotoxicity against HeLa tumor-cell line was determined via MTT cell viability test for 24 and 48 hours at diverse extracts concentrations. The methanol, and ethyl acetate extracts of Echinacea indicated high cytotoxic effects depends on time and dose manner. On the other hand, methanol flower extract showed the greatest antiproliferative activity with the smallest concentration of 62.5 μg/mL and 73.03 μg /mL for IC50 after 48 hours treatment. As a summary, this research study indicated that Echinacea has good quality scientific data for biological properties based on the effects on bacteria and tumor cell lines. This extracts could be a possible source to obtain medicines for disease treatment. However, future researches have been required for the development and establishment of the safe pharmaceuticals profiles for Echinacea preparations.