Biological Activity of New Cichoric Acid–Metal Complexes in Bacterial Strains, Yeast-Like Fungi, and Human Cell Cultures In Vitro

Abstract

Cichoric acid (CA) belongs to the group of polyphenols, which occurs in a variety of plant species and it is characterized by anticancer, antibacterial, and antiviral properties. Selected polyphenols have the ability to combine with metal ions to form chelate complexes that reveal greater biological activity than free compounds. In order to study possible antimicrobial and anticancer effect of CA and its complexes with copper(II)/zinc(II)/nickel(II)/cobalt(II) we decided to conduct cytotoxicity tests to estimate the most effective concentrations of tested compounds. The results of the presented study demonstrated, for the first time, that the treatment with newly synthesized CA-metal complexes has anticancer and antimicrobial effects, which were examined in seven different cell lines: MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and ZR-75-1 breast cancer cell lines, A375 melanoma cell line, DLD-1 cell line, LN-229 cell line, FN cell line; five bacterial strains: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Proteus vulgaris, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, yeast Sacchcaromyces boulardii, and pathogenic yeast-like fungi Candida albicans. The presented study indicates that CA-metal complexes could be considered as a potential supplementary tool in anticancer therapy, however, because of their possible toxic activity on fibroblasts, they should be used with caution. Some of the tested complexes have also preservative properties and positive influence on normal non-pathogenic microorganisms, which was demonstrated in selected microbial strains, therefore they may serve as food preservatives of natural origin with cytoprotective properties.

Unravelling the Phytochemical Composition and the Pharmacological Properties of an Optimized Extract from the Fruit from Prunus mahaleb L.: From Traditional Liqueur Market to the Pharmacy Shelf

“…Additionally, other edible plants, including Ocimum basilicum , Lactuca sativa L., Taraxacum officinale , and Cichorium intybus were reported as sources of chicoric acid [ 40 ]. Chicoric acid showed multiple promising pharmacological applications, among which are the reduction of the viability of colon cancer HCT116 cells and antimicrobial and neuroprotective effects [ 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Regarding the neuroprotective effects, in silico predictions yielded by the bioinformatics platform ADMETPrediction, but also experimental data by Wang and colleagues [ 44 ], indicated the capability of chicoric acid to cross the blood brain barrier.…”

Spectroscopic, Theoretical and Antioxidant Study of 3d-Transition Metals (Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II)) Complexes with Cichoric Acid

“…The changes in the molecular structure of CA ligand due to metal complexation cause differences in the biological activity of complexes. Already the literature data showed that complexation of cichoric acid with 3d-transition metals affected the microbiological and cytotoxic properties of the ligand [ 15 ]. FRAP, DPPH, CUPRAC tests and theoretical calculations have shown that complexation with metals such as Cu(II), Zn(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) changes the antioxidant properties of cichoric acid.…”

“…This plant contains a number of phenolic compounds and it is a rich source of cichoric acid. Many studies revealed that metal complexes with phenolic acids often show an increase in their antimicrobial activity [ 15 , 16 ]. Cu(II), Zn(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) complexes with cichoric acid have higher antimicrobial potential than ligand alone, which may also result from its greater absorption.…”

Potential toxicity of leachate from the municipal landfill in view of the possibility of their migration to the environment through infiltration into groundwater

“…Antimicrobial activity of LL against E. coli, P. fluorescens and B. subtilis was estimated using luminescence method (BacTiter-Glo™) and MTT assay. The details were described previously (Jabłońska-Trypuć et al 2019b ; 2020 ). The antimicrobial activity of tested LL was presented as a relative cell viability of E. coli , P. fluorescens and B. subtilis as compared to control untreated cells and expressed in percentage.…”