Persea lingue Ness is a
tree species that lives mainly in temperate
forests of south-central
Chile. Its leaves are used in
ethnomedicine, the
fruit is a drupe
similar to that of the
avocado and has not been studied. The aim of this study was to determine the cytotoxicity in
leukemia cell and antibacterial activity, along with some chemical content characteristics of P. lingue
fruit and leaf extracts. The antibacterial activity was determined by the inhibition of
bacterial growth in liquid medium assay against Gram-positive and
Gram-negative bacteria. The
leukemia cell lines Kasumi-1 and Jurkat were used to evaluate the cytotoxic activity by using
propidium iodide and AlamarBlue assays. Total phenolic,
flavonoid,
condensed tannin,
alkaloid and
lipid contents were evaluated in the
fruit and in the leaf extracts. The
antioxidant activity of both extracts were also elavaluated. Leaf extract presented the highest content of total
phenols,
condensed tannins and
flavonoids, and also the highest
antioxidant activity. While the
fruit extract has a higher amount of
lipids and
alkaloids and the high antibacterial activity against
Escherichia coli,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa,
Staphylococcus aureus,
Bacillus megaterium and
Micrococcus luteus. The leaf extract only showed activity against M. luteus. Concerning the cytotoxic activity, only the
fruit extract showed cytotoxicity against the
cell lines Jurkat and Kasumi-1. P. lingue
fruit extract is a potential source of biologically active molecules for the development of
new drugs to be used in some types of
leukemia, as well as
antibacterial agent.