Cytotoxicity, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of mosses obtained from open habitats

Abstract

Mosses are mainly the object of ecological and taxonomic research. This group of plants are still underestimated by scientists in other aspects of research. Recent research has shown that these plants contain remarkable and unique substances with high biological activity. Five species of mosses from a large urban ecosystem were identified for present study. In order to determine their biological potential, multifaceted studies were carried out, including: total phenolics content, antioxidant activity, antimicrobial and antifungal study, cytotoxicity evaluation, and scratch assay to assess pro-regenerative effect in the context of their possible use as the ingredients of biologically active cosmetics. Additionally, determination of individual phenolic compounds in selected extracts of the tested mosses was made. Research showed that Ceratodon purpureus and Dryptodon pulvinatus extracts had the greatest potential as antioxidants and antimicrobial activity. The cytotoxicity assessment indicated that the extracts from Dryptodon pulvinatus and Rhytidiadelphus squarossus exerted the strongest negative effect on mouse fibroblast line L929 viability at higher concentrations. While, the extract from Tortulla muralis best stimulated human foreskin fibroblast line HFF-1 proliferation and wound healing. The research on individual phenolic compounds content in the extracts tested indicated over 20 peaks on UPLC chromatograms. The conducted study has shown that mosses, especially so far unexplored species of open ecosystems, and e.g. epilytic habitats, may be a valuable source of biologically active substances and thus may constitute important medical and cosmetic possibilities.

Microbial sensitivity to temperature and sulfate deposition modulates greenhouse gas emissions from peat soils

“…Although a higher number of methanogenesis‐related genes were detected at 35°C (Figure 3f), the suppressed activity of methanogens and low CH 4 production rate at 35°C could further be explained by the enhanced accumulation of phenolic constituents with antimicrobial and pH‐controlling properties. Previously, Wolski et al, 2021 demonstrated the inhibition of microbial activity in ecosystems with high phenolic contents. Moreover, the antimicrobial properties of Sphagnum ‐derived polyphenolics have been previously established by (Fudyma et al, 2019; Mellegård et al, 2009).…”

Nest building in titmice Paridae: Selectivity in bryophyte use

“…However, birds' preferences for specific bryophyte species may be related to their production of secondary metabolites with antimicrobial, antifungal, or antibacterial bioactivity (Horn et al, 2021;Klavina et al, 2015) (Nikolajeva et al, 2012;Veljić et al, 2008;Wolski et al, 2021).…”

Antioxidant and Antibacterial Properties of Extracts and Bioactive Compounds in Bryophytes

“…The vast majority of the research has focused on the in vitro antioxidant activity of bryophytes extracts and pure isolated compounds through multiple chemical methods such as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABST) assay, lipid peroxidation test (LPT), β-carotene assay (Tables 1 and 2) (for in-depth methodological review read [25]) [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. The extraction methods mostly rely on solvents such as ethanol, methanol, water, and acetone which are the most common solvents used for in vitro antioxidant testing [25].…”

“…Extracts, depending on the solvent used and the selected species contain variable concentrations of phenolics, polyphenols, bibenzyls and terpenoids which are responsible for the antioxidant activity (Tables 1 and 2). A study of [31] that focused on the chemical composition of pure ethanol extracts, revealed the presence of several glycosidic flavonoids (e.g., apigenin hexoside, kaempferol 3-galactoside). Another study obtained similar results from water:ethanol extracts of several moss species [34].…”

“…A wide number of studies have explored the in vitro antibacterial activity of various solvent extracts such as water, ethanol, methanol, chloroform, butanol [31,[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64]. Differences in the activity depend on the type of extract used, the tested species, the extraction procedure, and the bacteria strain.…”