Cytotoxic, Antioxidant, and Antibacterial Properties of Eastern Baltic Plant Extracts

Plant extracts are a source of new drugs and alternative therapies. This article describes the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of aqueous methanol extracts of Eastern Baltic Glycyrrhiza glabra L., Salix alba L., and Echium vulgare L., as well as their effects on the viability of human blood cells. The aerial parts of the plants were harvested in the Kaliningrad Region, Russia. The phytochemical composition of their plant extracts was studied by the method of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The bioactive profile and antibacterial action were described using the methods of spectrophotometry and disk diffusion, respectively. Cytotoxicity of extracts was studied by WST-1 colorimetric analysis. The extracts proved to contain phenolic compounds. The antioxidant activity of the S. alba extracts was four times higher than that of G. glabra and more than seven times higher than that of E. vulgare. The G. glabra extracts were active against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria while the E. vulgare extract samples inhibited Gram-negative bacteria only. As for cytotoxicity, S. alba and E. vulgare were able to reduce the viability of human T-lymphoblastic leukemia (Jurkat) cells and human blood mononuclear cells. The extracts of G. glabra, S. alba, and E. vulgare demonstrated good prospects for biomedicine. Further detailed research may result in their eventual introduction into official medicine as potent therapeutic and preventive agents.