ABSTRACT:
Acmella oleracea (family Asteraceae) is known for its diverse applications such as food supplement, vegetable, antioxidant, antineoplastic, antimicrobial, ornamental plant and pig fodder. We prepared an aqueous extract from which the presence of alkaloids, tannins and saponins were detected. These chemical groups have been known for their wide-ranging therapeutic properties. The antibacterial activity was tested on Gram-negative bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli, and a Gram-positive species Bacillus subtilis. The plant extract showed no activity compared to that of the standard antibiotic tetracycline. Cytotoxic activity was also studied on cancer cell lines. We found an inverse relationship between treatment concentration and percent inhibition for HeLa (ATCC® CCL-2™) and V79 (ATCC® CCL-93™), however, the plant extract showed negligible effect on Dalton’s lymphoma ascites even at the highest concentration tested. The lower degree of inhibitions observed at higher concentrations for HeLa and V79 suggests that the plant extract might confer proliferative effect rather than antimitogenic effects on the cancer cells. The results indicate that A. oleracea has unique medicinal properties, which in turn provide the rationale for further investigations.