Organic Extract of Justicia pectoralis Jacq. Leaf Inhibits Interferon-γ Secretion and Has Bacteriostatic Activity against Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae

• Published in: Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine Vol. 2018; no. 2018; pp. 1 - 10
• Main Authors: Pitta, Maira Galdino da Rocha, Pitta, Ivan da Rocha, de Melo Rego, Moacyr Jesus Barreto, Costa-Junior, Sérgio Dias, Soares, Luiz Alberto Lira, Ferreira, Magda Rhayanny Assunção, Silva, Wliana Alves Viturino da, Souza, Matheus Landim de, Beserra, Fernanda Gomes, Cordeiro, Marina Ferraz, Nunes, Tiago Rafael de Sousa, Cavalcanti, Isabella Macário Ferro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 01.01.2018; Hindawi; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Acetone; Acids; Acinetobacter baumannii; Antibacterial activity; Asthma; Bacteriostats; Cancer; Cell culture; Chromatography; Coumarin; Cytokines; Cytotoxicity; Diabetes mellitus; Ellagic acid; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Epidemiology; Flavonoids; Herbal medicine; High performance liquid chromatography; Interferon; Justicia pectoralis; Klebsiella; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Leaves; Leukocytes (mononuclear); Liquid chromatography; Lymphoma; Medical research; Menstruation; Metastasis; Minimum inhibitory concentration; Peripheral blood mononuclear cells; Phytochemicals; Plant extracts; Splenocytes; Thin layer chromatography; γ-Interferon; Brazil
• ISSN: 1741-427X; 1741-4288
• DOI: 10.1155/2018/5762368

Justicia pectoralis Jacq. (Acanthaceae) leaves currently found in the Brazilian north-east are widely used to treat diabetes, menstrual pains, asthma, and other disorders. This work aimed to identify the phytochemical characterization and biological activities of J. pectoralis leaf extracts. The plant material was ground and the crude extracts were obtained with water or acetone: water (7:3 v/v), yielding aqueous (JPA), and organic (JPO) extracts. Phytochemical characterization was performed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Cytotoxicity was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) (MTT) assay and trypan blue (TB) exclusion assay in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), BALB/c splenocytes, and neoplastic cells (TOLEDO, K562, DU-145, and PANC-1) at 1, 10, and 100 μg/mL. Antibacterial activity was evaluated using the microdilution test to obtain the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). Cytokines, IFN-γ, and IL-17A from culture supernatants of BALB/c mice splenocytes were measured by sandwich ELISA. In the TLC analysis, both JPA and JPO extracts presented coumarin and flavonoids. In addition, HPLC was able to identify coumarin, apigenin, and ellagic acid in both extracts. JPO IC50 was 57.59 ± 1.03 μg/mL (MTT) and 69.44 ± 8.08 μg/mL (TB) in TOLEDO. MIC value of JPO against Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae was 500 μg/mL. JPO (100 μg/mL) significantly inhibited IFN-γ levels (p=0.03). J. pectoralis is a potential candidate to be further investigated as an IFN-γ inhibitory agent and against Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae.