Investigation of biological activity of Eupatorium cannabinum plant extracts

It is important to determine the biological activities of plants used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases in order to be used as a source of raw material for drugs in modern medicine. In this study, the anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-quorum sensing (QS), and anti-biofilm activities of ethyl acetate, methanol, and water extracts prepared by maceration and ultrasonication methods from the aerial parts of Eupatorium cannabinum were tested. The anticancer activity of the extracts was investigated by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide method (MTT) on PC-3 prostate cancer and HeLa cervical cancer cell lines. As a result of the research, the most effective decrease in cell viability in PC-3 and HeLa cell lines was detected in ultrasonication ethyl acetate extract, and IC50 values were calculated as 22.03 μg/mL and 114.2 μg/mL at the end of 48 hours, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts against reference strains of microorganisms was determined by the disc diffusion method. No antimicrobial effect of the extracts against microorganism strains was detected at the tested concentrations. For the determination of anti-QS activity, the inhibitory activity of the extracts on violacein pigment production was investigated using the Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 mutant strain. To determine the anti-biofilm activity, the inhibitory activity of the extracts on biofilm formation and eradication of the formed biofilm layer on the Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 strain was investigated. As a result of the study, water extracts prepared by maceration and ultrasonication methods were found to have anti-biofilm activity (p<0.05). It was found that these extracts inhibited biofilm formation by 53.7% and 26.8%, respectively, and biofilm eradication by 55.2% and 53.7%, respectively. It was observed that the ultrasonication ethyl acetate extract of the plant has the potential to be a new anticancer agent since it has anticancer activity on the PC-3 cell line at low concentrations. It is evaluated that water extracts prepared by maceration and ultrasonication methods can contribute to the development of anti-biofilm agents. Since the plant has the potential to be an anticancer and anti-biofilm agent, it can be considered that the study is a promising step toward the development of effective treatments in the future.