In vitro biological activity screening of Lycopodium complanatum L. ssp. chamaecyparissus (A. Br.) Doll

This article reports the results of selected biological activities, including anticholinesterase, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties, of the petroleum ether, chloroform and methanol extracts as well as the alkaloid fraction of Lycopodium complanatum L. ssp. chamaecyparissus (A. Br.) Doll (LCC, Lycopodiaceae) growing in Turkey. Anticholinesterase effect of the extracts was tested against both acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) at concentrations of 0.2 and 1 mg mL(-1) using microplate-reader assay based on Ellman method. Antioxidant activity of the LCC extracts was evaluated by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging method at 0.2 mg mL(-1) using microplate-reader assay. Both DNA virus Herpes simplex (HSV) and RNA virus Parainfluenza (PI-3) were employed for antiviral assessment of LCC exracts using Madin-Darby Bovine Kidney and Vero cell lines. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of the extracts were screened against the bacteria: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Acinobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis as well as the fungi: Candida albicans and C. parapsilosis. Only the petroleum ether extract of LCC possessed remarkable activity against both AChE and BChE at 1 mg mL(-1) (76.5 and 69.6%, respectively), whereas LCC extracts showed low free radical-scavenging activity. All of the extracts were found to be more effective against the ATCC strains than isolated ones, particularly S. aureus, while the extracts had moderate antifungal activity. On the other hand, we found that only the petroleum ether extract was active against HSV. In addition, we also analysed the content of the alkaloid fraction of the plant by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and identified lycopodine as the major alkaloid (60.8%).