Antibacterial and Antioxidant Properties of Endophytic Fungi Extracts from Cola acuminata (Sterculiaceae)

Abstract

Currently, the disease burden from pneumonia remains a major public health problem. In this regard, exploring endophytic fungal extracts from traditionally used plants could be a promising approach in this light. Therefore, this work was conceived with the aim of evaluating the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of two endophytic extracts of Cola acuminata against pneumoniacausing bacteria. The identification led to the acquisition of two endophytic fungi: Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma afroharzianum. From ten (10) extracts, two (CAB31P1 and CAF71N2) were active on the tested bacteria, and their MICs ranged from 12.5 to 100 μg/ml. CAF71N2 displayed better antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 74.75, 12.70 and 5.66 μg/ml for the reducing power of Fe3+, NO and OH radical scavenging capacities, respectively. The extracts revealed no cytotoxicity (CC50>100 μg/ml) on the two cell lines tested. These results suggest that the endophytic extracts from Cola acuminata could serve as a source for the isolation of potent antibacterial and antioxidant compounds for the treatment of pneumonia.