Anti-Proliferative and Antimicrobial Activity of Methanolic Extract and SPE Fractions of Artemisia spicigera

Objectives and This study was conducted to investigate in vitro, methanolic extract and methanol/water fractions obtained from the arial parts of Artemisia spicigera C. Koch (Asteraceae family) and for evaluation of their antiproliferative effects against HT-29, L-929 and A 549 cell lines by MTT assay at different concentrations (1, 10, 100, 1000 µg/mL). Furthermore, this study aimed to detect antimicrobial activities of the mentioned samples: two Gram-positive (Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus), two Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli) and a fungi (Candida albicanse), using agar well diffusion method.
The IC50 values for antiproliferative activity of the methanolic extract, 20%, 40% and 60% SPE (solid phase extraction) fractions, found to be 345.91 ± 28.77, 442.44 ± 83.22, 220.19 ± 43.13 and 579.90 ± 153.19 μg/mL, respectively; in this case, the maximum inhibition percentage belonged to 40% SPE fraction (220.19 ± 43.13 μg/mL). The total methanolic extract of A. spicigera indicated inhibitory activity against Gram- positive strains, S. epidermidis and S. aureus, with MIC values of 150 mg/mL for both bacteria. Among SPE fractions, 20% was the only active one against Gram possitive species with MIC values of 35 mg/mL for both strains.
This study revealed that methanolic extract of A. spicigera and its SPE fractions might be regarded as bioactive natural products, which deserves to be further identification and isolation of cytotoxic and antibacterial phytochemicals from them.