Antibacterial, anticancer and antioxidant properties of the stem and leaf extract of Dodonaea viscosa

Abstract

Dodonaea viscosa is commonly used in traditional medicine because of its purported therapeutic benefits in the treatment of bacterial  infections, cancer and inflammation among others. The present study aims to evaluate the antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer  effects of the leaf and stem extracts of Dodonaea viscosa. The antibacterial properties of the extracts of D. viscosa leaf and stem were  evaluated using agar well diffusion method while the anticancer effect was evaluated using MTT (cytotoxicity) assay. The antioxidant  potential of the plant was assessed via DPPH (free radical scavenging) assay method. Of all the extracts of the leaf and stem of D. viscosa  evaluated, the methanol and chloroform extracts of the leaf as well as the hexane extract of the stem produced the highest antibacterial  activity. The quantitative phytochemical analysis revealed that the 3 extracts with the highest antibacterial activity contain significant  amount of flavonoids and polyphenols. In addition, the 3 extracts had cytotoxic effects on liver and cervical cancer cells, and high  antioxidant properties in the DPPH assay. Therefore, this study presents D. viscosa as a plant with multiple therapeutic effects justifying  its intensive use in traditional and folk medicine.