Introduction: Helicobacter pylori and Candida albicans are classified as the most common pathogenic agents in humans. H. pylori is responsible for gastroduodenal diseases and greatly associated with gastric carcinogenesis, while C. albicans is the main cause of fungal urinary tract, genital yeast, and fungal skin infections. The increasing appearance of drug-resistant strains of H. pylori and C. albicans has made the treatment of the infections more serious. Hydrosols from plant steam distillation have been traditionally used in medicine, cosmetics, and culinary uses. They have been recently suggested as antimicrobial agents owing to their safety and ability to reduce the potential of resistance. The aim of the present study is to assess antibacterial and antifungal activities of hydrosols extracted from the fresh fruits of Litsea cubeba against H. pylori and C. albicans. Methods: The L. cubeba fruit hydrosol was obtained by steam distillation method. Evaluation of the growth-inhibiting and microbicidal effects of the hydrosol towards the H. pylori ATCC 43504 and C. albicans ATCC 10231 was determined through MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration), MBC (minimal bactericidal concentration), and MFC (minimal fungicidal concentration) measurements using broth dilution assays. Compositions of the dissolved essential oil (dEO) from the hydrosol were analyzed by GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). Results: The results indicated that the L. cubeba fruit hydrosol exhibited strong antimicrobial ability towards the bacterium H. pylori (MIC of 10%, MBC of 30%) and the yeast C. albicans (MIC of 10%, MFC of 40%). The cells of H. pylori and C. albicans were killed completely after 24 and 18 hours of treatment with 30% and 40% of the hydrosol, respectively. The major constituents of the dEO were geranial (32.92%), neral (27.12%), p-menthan-8-yl acetate (8.45%), 2-cyclopropyl-2-methylspiro[2.2]pentane-1-carboxylic acid (8.09%), linalool (4.24%), and methyl heptenone (4.15%). Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that L. cubeba fruit hydrosols could be used as potent natural antibacterial and antifungal preparations in the global effort to discover safe alternatives to toxic antimicrobial agents.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent type of primary liver cancer and is the leading cause of cancer mortality in Vietnam. Our study aims to discover the partial extracts with the potential cytotoxic effects on HCC cells from the different parts of 24 Vietnamese medicinal plants traditionally used in liver cancer treatment. Out of 52 crude methanol extracts, we found that Luvunga scandens leaves, Hyptis suaveolens roots, and Solanum torvum leaves showed the notable cytotoxic effects against HCC cells. After that, we carried out partial extract of the three methanol extracts with ethyl acetate, water, n-hexane, and 90% methanol. The cytotoxic activity on Huh-7 HCC cells, antioxidant capacity, and total flavonoids content (TFC) of each partial extraction were determined. Methanol, ethyl acetate, and 90% methanol extracts showed moderate to strong cytotoxicity activity against Huh-7 HCC cells. Notably, the ethyl acetate and 90% methanol extract from H. suaveolens roots with high TFC values and strong antioxidant capacity could be promising sources of novel therapeutic modalities for HCC treatment. For the leaves of L. scandens and S. torvum, the ethyl acetate extract showed high TFC value and promising anti-HCC activity, therefore recommended further studies.

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