Antimicrobial and antiproliferative activity of two Croatian Cistus L. species

Cistus genus has been known since ancient times in diverse ethnic populations for its therapeutic properties. Aim of the study was to evaluate antimicrobial and antiproliferative activity of aqueous extracts derived from wild-growing C. creticus L.(CC) and C. salviifolius L. (CS). The antimicrobial screening of the Cistus extracts was carried out using disc-diffusion and broth microdilution assays. The antiproliferative activity of the extracts on A549 lung human cancer cells evaluated using MTT assay. Antioxidant capacity was also measured by employing the scavenging activity of DPPH radical and FRAP assay. The extracts exhibited very similar activity against the selected bacterial strains, with the most potent activity observed against Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolate (MIC 250 µg/mL) for both extracts. In addition, extracts were found to exert very good antifungal activity, particularly the (CS) extract against opportunistic yeast Candida albicans (MIC 125 µg/mL). Both extracts showed significant and similar dose- and time-dependent antiproliferative activity against the cancer cell line.