The anticancer and antibacterial properties of aqueous and methanol extracts of weeds

In recent years, the use of plant compounds has been considered due to their lower side effects and drug resistance. In this study, the antitumor and antibacterial properties of methanolic and aqueous extracts of Acroptilon repens, Amaranthus retroflexus L, Chenopodium album L and Convolvulus arvensis L were investigated. In addition, the antioxidant, as well as apoptosis activity of these extracts, were evaluated using DPPH and flow cytometry, respectively. The results showed that methanolic extracts of weeds had higher anti-tumor activity compared to their aqueous extract on AGS cells. The lowest IC50 value of aqueous weeds extract against AGS cells was 0.75 mg/mL, which was observed in C. album, while this amount for the methanolic weeds extract was 0.23 mg/mL, which was observed in A. retroflexus. The DPPH and flow cytometry results revealed that the extracts of A. retroflexus is more appropriated compared to other extracts of weeds for future antitumoral application due to high ratio of apoptosis and antioxidant activity. The concentration of aqueous and methanolic extracts of A. retroflexus. required to inhibit 50% of free radical were 51.66 and 23.04 mg/mL respectively. Antimicrobial assays showed that the weeds extracts have good effective on Staphylococcus arouse compared to Escherichia coli. Generally, C. album extracts had higher antimicrobial properties than the extracts of A. repens, A. retroflexus and Convolvulus arvensis L. The lowest minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) value of weed extract against E. coli and Staphylococcus bacteria was 500 and 1000 μg/mL, respectively, which was observed after their treatment with methanol extract of C. album. Weeds have various beneficial compounds, which many of them are still unknown, therefore, more research is needed to identify these compounds.