Antimicrobial activity, cytotoxicity and selectivity index of Banisteriopsis laevifolia (A. Juss.) B. Gates leaves

• Biological activity of Banisteriopsis laevifolia (A. Juss.) B. Gates leaves extract and partitions.
• UHPLC-ESI–MSn analysis from the more bioactive fractions.
• Promising antifungal activity.

Banisteriopsis laevifolia (A. Juss.) B. Gates (Malpighiaceae) is largely distributed in the cerrado Brazilian biome. In this study, phytochemical screening, antimicrobial and antifungal activities of leaves extract and partitions were evaluated. Phytochemical screening tests indicated the presence of flavonoids, terpenoids, phenols, sugar, steroids, triterpenoids, and tannins compounds. No alkaloids or nitrogenated compounds were found. Antioxidant, antimicrobial and antifungal activities were tested. The extract and partitions from the B. laevifolia leaves demonstrated relevant scavenging free radical DPPH effect. The crude extract and partitions inhibit bacteria growth with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) below 400 mg L−1 for most oral microorganisms tested. Meanwhile, the antifungal activity proved to be very promising for the ethanolic extract and partitions (31–375 μg mL−1) against all yeasts tested. The antimicrobial activities results are very promising since the ethanol extract and the more active n-buthanol partition showed great selectivity (0.9–1.2; 0.1–0.7, respectively) against microorganisms and relatively low toxicity to Vero cells. Analysis by UHPLC-ESI–MSn from the most bioactive fractions (ethyl acetate and n-buthanol) permitted to identify ten phenolic compounds reported in the Banisteriopsis family that exert recognized antioxidant, antimicrobial and antifungal activity. Main secondary metabolites found were phenolic acids and flavonoid glycosides, mainly derivatives from quercetin and rutin. The biological activity results and MS analysis for the B.laevifolia leaves revealed that they have efficient antimicrobial agents, and contributed to knowledge of the genus.

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