Biological Activities of Toninia candida and Usnea barbata Together with Their Norstictic Acid and Usnic Acid Constituents

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Branislav Ranković¹  Marijana Kosanić¹  Tatjana Stanojković²  Perica Vasiljević³ 

[1] Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia; E-Mail:;Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia; E-Mail:;Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, 18000 Niš, Serbia; E-Mail:

关键词: lichens;    HPLC-UV;    chemical composition;    biological activities;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms131114707

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The aim of this study was to investigate the chemical composition of acetone extracts of the lichens Toninia candida and Usnea barbata and in vitro antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer activities of these extracts together with some of their major metabolites. The chemical composition of T. candida and U. barbata extracts was determined using HPLC-UV analysis. The major phenolic compounds in these extracts were norstictic acid (T. candida) and usnic acid (U. barbata). Antioxidant activity was evaluated by free radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, reducing power and determination of total phenolic compounds. Results of the study proved that norstictic acid had the largest antioxidant activity. The total content of phenols in the extracts was determined as the pyrocatechol equivalent. The antimicrobial activity was estimated by determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration using the broth microdilution method. The most active was usnic acid with minimum inhibitory concentration values ranging from 0.0008 to 0.5 mg/mL. Anticancer activity was tested against FemX (human melanoma) and LS174 (human colon carcinoma) cell lines using the microculture tetrazolium test. Usnic acid was found to have the strongest anticancer activity towards both cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 12.72 and 15.66 μg/mL.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.