Phytochemical composition and antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of Anchusa officinalis L. extracts

The aim of this study is to examine phytochemical composition and evaluation of antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of Anchusa officinalis plant extracts in different solutions: ethanol, chloroform, petroleum, acetone and ethyl acetate. A comparative analysis has shown that ethanol extract had the highest concentration of phenols (104.03 ± 0.63 mgGA/g), and the highest concentration of flavonoids (30.26 ± 0.40 mgRU/g). The highest concentration of the condensed tannins recorded in chloroform extract (74.65 ± 0.57 mg GA/g). The ethanol extract showed the strongest antioxidant and the best antimicrobial activity as compared to all other tested extracts, while the chloroform and the acetone extracts showed the best cytotoxic activity on cell line of mouse fibroblast carcinoma (L2OB). This is the first report of citotoxic activity of extract A. officinalis plant from Balkan region on tumor cell lines. HPLC analysis of A. officinalis plant extracts confirmed that the predominant polyphenol components were: rosmarinic acid, chlorogenic acid, naringenin, lutein-glycoside and rutin.