ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Biological Activities of Extracts Obtained From Natural Origin

MARIA MUDDASSIR1, FARHEEN ANSARI2, MUDDASSIR AHMED3, FAROOQ BUTT4,

ABSTRACT
Background: Medicinal plants have been in use for curing ailments since hundreds of centuries. Extracts, both
crude and purified are used in different forms and preparations to cure diseases. Various microorganisms have
gained antibiotic resistance due to the overuse of drugs and widespread use of antibiotics.
Aim: To determine the antibacterial, antiproliferative and antioxidant activities of Aloe vera medinensis,
Azadirachta indica and Citrus aurantium.
Methods: For this study, different parts of the selected medicinal plants were analyzed on various assays. These
plants were collected from Gujranwala, Punjab and the extracts were prepared using the Cold maceration method
in ethyl acetate and ethanol. The antibacterial activity was assessed against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia
coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis by disc diffusion method. The
inhibitory zones were recorded in millimetres. The antiproliferative activity was assessed against HeLa cell lines
using MTT assay. The absorbance was recorded at 570 nm. The antioxidant activity was assessed using Catalase
and Superoxide dismutase assay. The absorbance was recorded at 240 nm for Catalase assay and 560 nm for
Superoxide dismutase assay.
Results: The results indicate that commercially available antibiotics have better zones of inhibition against tested
microorganisms. The antiproliferative activity was significant for the extract of neem leaves in ethanol and citrus
fruit seeds in ethyl acetate. Antioxidant activity was found to be higher through SOD assay as compared to
Catalase assay for most extracts. It can be concluded that the microorganisms were found to be susceptible to
most of the extracts. Only two of the extracts showed antiproliferative activity whereas reasonably good
antioxidant activity is shown by all of the extracts. These plants can be explored for further in depth analysis in
animal models.
Keywords: Antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiproliferative, disc diffusion, MTT assay, Catalase assay

INTRODUCTION MATERIALS & METHODS

Traditional therapies rely as much as 80% on the use of plant It was a descriptive study which was conducted for a period of
extracts or the active substances that have been derived from one year from June 2016-June 2017 in Microbiology laboratory
these extracts according to a report by World Health of IMBB, The University of Lahore.
Organization, which involves the use of plant extracts or their Samples of dry plant material including Aloe vera, Neem
active substances. Herbal plants are constituted of many and Orange were collected from a local market, washed and
secondary metabolites as essential oils that possess rinsed with distilled water and then shade dried. The
antibacterial and antifungal activities 8. Active principles of percentage of foreign matter was weighed in comparison to the
these herbal extracts are also used as first ingredients for whole weight of plant part used. Plant extracts were prepared
development of further drug chemistry modification6,11,17,18. by Cold maceration method. Whole or coarsely powdered
Aloe vera is derived from an Arabic word ‘alloeh’ that crude plant material (about 200g) was placed in a stopper
means ‘bitter’. Till date, approximately 275 species of Aloe container with the solvent ethyl acetate and ethanol (600ml)
vera have been documented23. Commonly known as Neem, and shaken routinely while kept at room temperature for about
Azadirachta indica is found in India and other Asian countries. 3-7 days after which the preparation was passed through filter
This “Wonder plant” has been in use for the preparation of sheets to collect the filtrate. In total, twelve filtrates were
various medicines. obtained in solvents following which the solid or semi-solid
Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and plant extracts were stored in screw-capped bottles at room
Escherichia coli have been found to be particularly susceptible temperature till further use22.
to extracts of Azadirachta indica in vitro. Neem possesses The scheme of extract preparation is given in Table 1.
significant antibacterial activity21. Citrus aurantium is quite rich For the preparation of test concentrations, crude plant extracts
in flavonoids and volatile oil. It also has a large portion of were further dissolved in DMSO so that 500 and 1000µg/disk
Vitamin C. Natural antioxidant activity of herbal plants is concentration was achieved. All extracts were applied against
attributed to the presence of free radical scavengers that act test organism in triplicate
as reducing agents and eliminators of excess oxygen. Urine and blood samples were collected from 75 patients.
Galectin-3 stimulates neo-vascularization in vitro and in vivo, Microorganisms were isolated through specific and different
as well as acting as a chemo-attractant for the endothelial biochemical identification techniques and antimicrobial activity
cells. of different plant extracts was ascertained against
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas
1
M Phil Microbiology, The University of Lahore’ Lahore aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis.
2
Associate Professor, The University of Lahore McFarland solution was used for adjusting the turbidity of
3
PG student of M.D Nephrology, Shaikh Zayed Hospital’ Lahore inoculums for susceptibility testing. 0.5 ml of 1.175% (W/v)
4
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Sialkot Medical College’ Sialkot BaCl2.2H2O was added in 99.5ml of 1% (v/v) H2SO4 to prepare
Correspondence to Dr. Maria Muddassir, Email: marya.b@live.com the McFarland solution. The incubated bacterial strains were
Cell 0321-6495617 then suspended in sterile saline (0.89% NaCl) and turbidity
was then matched to 0.5 McFarland solution for the

P J M H S Vol. 12, NO. 4, OCT – DEC 2018 1599

Biological Activities of Extracts Obtained From Natural Origin

preparation of inoculums for disc diffusion assay.(22) Bacterial observe the effects of plant extracts on surviving potential of
suspension (200µl) was poured and adsorbed over the surface cancerous cells. Viable cell number in each of the wells was
of Muller-Hinton agar. Imipenem 5µg was used as positive proportionally taken to be equal to the intensity of absorbance
control for Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and of light and the measurement of this absorbance was then
Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Amikacin 5µg was used as a read on an ELISA plate reader at 570 nm.
positive control for Klebsiella and Proteus. The results were Data obtained through MTT assay, SOD and Catalase
noted in the form of zone of inhibition (ZOI) in mm. assays were statistically analyzed by Graph pad prism. Values
For antioxidant activity, SOD and Catalase assay were at P ≤ 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.
performed to determine the antioxidant activity of medicinal
plant extracts. The absorbance was taken at 560 nm on an RESULTS
ELISA plate reader.
For the detection of antiproliferative activity of plant Table 1: Preparation of extracts in respective solvents
extracts, the samples were dissolved in DMSO at S.No Extract No. Preparation of extract
concentration of 20 mg/ml. The stock solutions were further 1 Extract 1-E1 Ethyl acetate+ Aloe vera leaf cuticl
diluted to concentration of 500µg in DMEM in a stock vial; 2 Extract 2-E2 Ethanol+ Aloe vera leaf cuticle
these were filtrated by syringe filters measuring 0.22µm and 3 Extract 3-E3 Ethyl acetate+ Aloe vera gel
later were stored in sterile aliquots in Falcon tubes at -20ºC 4 Extract 4-E4 Ethanol+ Aloe vera gel
until analyzed. HeLa cell lines which are human cervical cell 5 Extract 5-E5 Ethyl acetate +Neem leaves
lines were taken from cell culture laboratory of CRiMM (Center 6 Extract 6-E6 Ethanol+ Neem leaves
of Research in Molecular Medicine). DMEM-HG medium 7 Extract 7-E7 Ethyl acetate+ Neem stems
(Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s-High Glucose medium) that is 8 Extract 8-E8 Ethanol + Neem stems
supplemented with 10% heat inactivated (56ºC) fetal bovine 9 Extract 9-E9 Ethyl acetate +Citrus fruit peel
serum, streptomycin (100mg/ ml) and Penicllin (100 IU/ml) was 10 Extract 10-E10 Ethanol +Citrus fruit peel
used to maintain the cervical cell lines. 11 Extract 11-E11 Ethyl acetate+ Citrus fruit seeds
MTT assay (3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazole-2-Yl)-2,5- 12 Extract 12-E12 Extract 12-E12
Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide assay) test was then applied to

Graph-1. ZOI produced by extracts against Staphylococcus aureus.

14
Zone of inhibition (mm)

12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Plant extracts (codes)

Graph-2. ZOI produced by extracts against Escherichia coli.

12
10
Zone of inhibition (mm)

8
6
4
2
0

Plant extracts (codes)

1600 P J M H S Vol. 12, NO. 4, OCT – DEC 2018

 Maria Muddassir, Farheen Ansari, Muddassir Ahmed et al

Graph-3. ZOI produced by extracts against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

12
Zone of inhibition ( mm)

10
8
6
4
2
0

Plant extracts (codes)

Graph-4. ZOI produced by extracts against Klebsiella pneumoniae

12
10
Zone of inhibition ( mm)

8
6
4
2
0

Plant extracts (codes)

Graph-5. ZOI produced by extract against Proteus mirabilis

12
Zone of inhibition ( mm)

10
8
6
4
2
0

Plant extracts (codes)

Graph-6. Anti-proliferative activity of plant extracts against HeLa cervical cell line
1 MTT
Absorbance (nm)

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

Plant Extracts (codes)

P J M H S Vol. 12, NO. 4, OCT – DEC 2018 1601

Biological Activities of Extracts Obtained From Natural Origin

Graph-7. Anti-oxidant (Catalase) activity of plant extracts

1.6 Pre-treatment…
*** ***
1.4 Post-treatment…
Absorbance (nm)

1.2
1 ***
***
0.8 *** *** ***
0.6 ***
0.4
0.2
0

Plant extracts (codes)

Graph-8. Anti-oxidant (Superoxide dismutase) activity of plant extracts

Pre-treatment extracts
2.5 *** *** ***
*** *** *** *** *** ***
*** ***
2 ***
Absorbance (nm)

1.5
1
0.5
0

Plant extracts (codes)

DISCUSSION pneumoniae. Activity against Escherichia coli was only shown

by Citrus aurantium fruit peel in ethanol and Citrus aurantium
Aloe vera leaf cuticle in both ethyl acetate and ethanol fruit seeds in ethanol. This finding is complemented by reports
exhibited activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Reports by of Arias BA et al., 2005. Pharmacological actions for C.
Abdullah KM et al., 2003 and Asma et al., 2007 also aurantium include being an anti-inflammatory and an
complement this finding. Aloe vera gel in both ethanol and antibacterial agent.(10) However, Citrus aurantium seeds and
ethyl acetate show antibacterial activity against S. aureus. Leaf fruit peel extract in ethanol and ethyl acetate showed no
extracts in ethyl alcohol showed activity against E.coli antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa
revealing that Aloe vera has antimicrobial action against both showing that Pseudomonas is not acted upon by any of the
gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Aloe vera gel and compounds found in Citrus aurantium. Citrus aurantium
leaf extracts have activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae but therefore shows antimicrobial activity against both gram
only the leaf cuticle extract in ethanol showed activity against positive and gram negative bacteria.
Pseudomonas. Extracts of Azadirachta indica leaves and stem Azadirachta indica leaves in ethanol and Citrus
showed more activity against E. coli and K. pneumoniae as aurantium fruit seeds in ethyl acetate have antiproliferative
compared to S. aureus depicting thereby that Neem plant is action. Both of these extracts had significant reducing effect on
more active against gram negative bacteria. The antimicrobial HeLa cervical cell lines. However, Aloe vera extracts showed
potential of Neem according to this study is similar to reports of no antiproliferative activity and reducing effect on HeLa cell
Biswas et al., 2003. Neem leaves in ethyl acetate showed no lines. This is contrary to reports presented by Furukawa et al.,
activity against S. aureus. More antimicrobial activity was 2002 and Abdullah KM et al., 2003. Citrus aurantium has a
exhibited by Neem extracts against E. coli, K. pneumoniae and unique triterpenoid that possesses chemopreventive properties
P. mirabilis. Neem extracts in ethyl acetate and ethanol that are active against human colon carcinoma cells.(14,15) The
exhibited reduced activity against Pseudomonas. This finding results of this study complement the results of Richardson J et
is contrary to reports of Kusum et al., 2013 which states al., 2005.
significant activity of Neem against P. aeruginosa. Perhaps the The antioxidant enzymes are superoxide dismutase,
difference of finding between this study and reports by Kusum catalase and glutathione peroxidise.(16) The results of this study
et al., 2013 is due to the different geographic locales whereby show that extracts of Aloe vera possess antioxidant potential.
the plant has been collected from extracts derived from Citrus Both leaf cuticle and Aloe vera gel have antioxidant activity.
aurantium fruit peel and seeds in ethyl acetate and ethanol Thus, the results of this study are complemented by reports
showed antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, Proteus and presented by Langmead et al., 2004 and Gallagher and Gray
Klebsiella. Greater activity was exhibited by Citrus aurantium et al., 2003. The extracts of Azadirachta indica show
fruit seeds in ethanol against Proteus mirabilis and Klebsiella

1602 P J M H S Vol. 12, NO. 4, OCT – DEC 2018

 Maria Muddassir, Farheen Ansari, Muddassir Ahmed et al

antioxidant properties and this is complemented by reports 7. Bibalani GH, Mosazadeh-Sayadmahaleh F .(2011).
presented by Bandyopadhyay et al.,2002 and Amal Kumar Recognition and consumption uses and medicinal properties
Ghimeray et al., 2009. The work on Citrus aurantium has of sour orange (Citrus aurantium) by rural people in East part
shown significant antioxidant activity. Extracts of Citrus of Gilan Province (North Iran). J. Med. Plants Res. 5(7): 1238.
aurantium exhibit increased superoxide dismutase activity. 8. Biswas KI, chattopadhyay R, Banerjee K, Bandyopadhyay U
.(2002). Biological activities and medicinal properties of Neem
(Azadirachta indica). Current Science. 82(11): 1336-1345.
CONCLUSION 9. Bui LT, Nguyen DT, Ambrose PJ. (2006). Blood pressure and
The results of this study state that the extracts of Aloe vera heart rate effects following a single dose of bitter orange.
medinensis, Azadirachta indica and Citrus aurantium exhibit Ann. Pharmacother. 40: 53-57.
reasonable bactericidal activity as depicted from disc diffusion 10. Butler, M.S. (2004). The role of natural product chemistry in
drug discovery. J. Nat. Prod. 67: 2141–2153.
method and if the doses of these extracts are increased within
11. Furukawa F, Nishikawa A, Chihara T, Shimpo K, Beppu H,
therapeutic limits, a greater bactericidal activity can be hoped Kuzuya H. (2002). Chemopreventive effects of Aloe
for. Thus, these plants hold promise as better alternatives to arborescens on N-nitrosobis (2-oxopropyl) amine-induced
conventional synthetic medicine with fewer side effects pancreatic carcinogenesis in hamsters. Cancer
advantageously. Letters.178:117–122.
Azadirachta indica leaves and Citrus aurantium seeds 12. Gallagher J, Gray M. (2003). Is Aloe vera effective for healing
hold potential as antiproliferative agents as shown by MTT chronic wounds? J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 30(2):
assay. They can be further studied upon with in depth 68-71.
techniques and more detailed studies for pathway analysis. 13. Gougeon R, Harrigan K, Tremblay J, Hedrei P, Lamarche M,
Antioxidant activity is significant in various extracts with SOD Morais JA. (2005). Increase in the thermic effect of food in
activity more pronounced as shown in results. Hence these women by adrenergic amines extracted from Citrus
plant parts can be further processed and formulated for the aurantium. J. Obes Res Clin Pract. 13:1187-1194.
benefit of medicinal field. 14. Haaz S, Fontaine KR, Cutter G, Limdi N, Perumean-Chaney
S, Allison DB. (2006). Citrus aurantium and synephrine
alkaloids in the treatment of overweight and obesity: An
REFERENCES Update. Obesity Reviews. 7(1): 79-88.
1. Abdullah KM, Abdullah A, Johnson ML, Bilski JJ, Petry K, 15. Halliwell B., Gutteridge J.M.C. (2007). Free radical in Biology
Redmer DA, Reynolds LP, Grazul-Bilska AT. (2003). Effects and Medicine. (4th ed.).Oxford. Oxford University Press.
of Aloe vera on gap junctional intercellular communication 16. Jones, W.P., Chin, Y.W., Kinghorn, A.D. (2006). The role of
and proliferation of human diabetic and non diabetic skin pharmacognosy in modern medicine and pharmacy. J.
fibroblasts. J. Altern. Complement. Med. 9(5): 711-718. Curr Drug Targets.7: 247–264.
2. Amal Kumar Ghimeray, Cheng-Wu Jin, Bimal Kumar Ghimire 17. Koehn, F.E., Carter, G.T.(2005). The evolving role of natural
and Dong Ha Cho.(2009).Antioxidant activity and quantitative products in drug discovery. J. Nat Rev Drug Discov.4:206–
estimation of azadirachtin and nimbin in Azadirachta Indica A. 220.
Juss grown in foothills of Nepal. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 8 (13). 18. Kusum Harjai, Anju Bala, Ravi K. Gupta, Radhika Sharma.
3084-3091. (2013). Leaf extract of Azadirachta indica (neem): a potential
3. Arias BA, Ramón-Laca L. (2005). Pharmacological properties antibiofilm agent for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pathogens
of citrus and their ancient and medieval uses in the and Disease. 69(1):62-65.
Mediterranean region. J. Ethnopharmacol. 97(1): 89-95. 19. Langmead L, Makins RJ., Rampton DS. (2004). Anti-
4. Asma Bashir, Bushra Saeed, Talat .Y. Mujahid and Nayar inflammatory effects of Aloe vera gel in human colorectal
Jehan. (2007). Comparative study of antimicrobial activities of mucosa in vitro. J. Aliment Pharmacol Ther.19: 521–527.
Aloe vera extracts and antibiotics against isolates from skin 20. Mamman, Paul Habila, Mshelia, Wayuta Philip, Susbatrus,
infections. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 10(19). 3835-3840. Sosthenes Chidama1 and Sambo, Kankani Wonder. (2013).
5. Balunas, M.J., Kinghorn, A.D.(2005). Drug discovery from Antibacterial effects of crude extract of Azadirachta indica
medicinal plants. Life Sciences.78:431–441. against Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus
6. Bandyopadhyay U, Biswas K, Chatterjee R, Bandyopadhyay aureus. Int. J. Med. Med. Sci. 5(1): 14-18
D, Chattopadhyay I, Ganguly CK,Chakraborty T, 21. Puntawong S., Okonogi S., Pringproa K. (2012). In vitro
Bhattacharya K, Banerjee RK .(2002). Gastroprotective effect antibacterial activity of Psidium guajava Linn. leaf extracts
of neem (Azadirachta indica) bark extract: possible against pathogenic bacteria in pigs. CMU J. Nat. Sci.
involvement of H+-K+-ATPase inhibition and scavenging of 11(2):127-134
hydroxyl radical. Life Sciences. 71: 2845-2865 22. Saeed MA, Ishtiaq A, Uzma Y, Shazia A, Arman W, Salee M,
Nasir U (2003-2004). Aloe vera: a plant of vital significance.
Afr J Pharm Pharmacol. 9: 1-4.

P J M H S Vol. 12, NO. 4, OCT – DEC 2018 1603