Phytochemical and Biological Studies of Helichrysum acutatum DC

Helichrysum acutatum from the Asteraceae family is a shrub indigenous to Southern Africa. The plant is used in traditional medicine as an enema for newborn babies. This study aimed to isolate and identify the bioactive constituents from H. acutatum. In addition, the crude extracts and isolated compounds were tested for their antioxidant, antibacterial and cytotoxic activities. The phytochemical investigation afforded the known compounds stigmasterol, stigmasterol glucoside, and caffeic acid. The antioxidant activity of the ethyl acetate extract showed higher activity compared to other extracts, ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxytoluene. Antibacterial profiling of all the extracts showed no activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial strains. The cytotoxic activity of the crude extracts was assayed in vitro against two human cancer cell lines, liver hepatoblastoma (HepG2) and colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2). The human embryonic kidney cell line (Hek-293) was used as the non-transformed control. The plant extracts showed insufficient antiproliferative or cytotoxic activity to the tumour and regular cell lines tested, which signifies suitable for human consumption. Overall, this plant has better antioxidant activity than other plants in the genus, which needs further exploration.