Despite their ethnomedicinal properties, the florets generated from banana cultivation have long been considered as unimportant and improperly utilized thus far. This study assessed the total phenolic and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activities, in addition to the antimicrobial and cytotoxicity potentials of different solvent extracts of Musa paradisiaca florets to uncover their unique potentials. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity were determined spectrophotometrically, and the antimicrobial activity was assessed by minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations assays, while cytotoxicity was evaluated in vitro via 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide reduction assay. The ethyl acetate fraction recorded the highest phenolic content of 481.53 mg Gallic acid equivalent/g extract and managed to scavenge the most 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals, while the highest flavonoids content was obtained in methanol fraction (0.5294 mg Quercetin equivalent/g extract). There was a linear correlation established between the phenolic contents of the extracts and the antioxidant capacities. The extracts also demonstrated notable antimicrobial activities against all the bacteria tested. The ethyl acetate fraction exhibited moderate cytotoxicity against the DU-145 cancerous cells with an inhibitory concentration IC50 value of 37.94 µg/ml, which was comparable to the commercial chemotherapeutic drug, 5-fluorouracil (IC50 = 32.50 µg/ml). The assays conducted in this study suggested that the M. paradisiaca florets possessed substantial antimicrobial, antioxidant, and cytotoxicity potentials.
Key words: Musa paradisiaca, florets, antibacterial, antioxidant, cytotoxicity
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