Lycium shawii Roem. & Schult.: A new bioactive antimicrobial and antioxidant agent to combat multi-drug/pan-drug resistant pathogens of wound burn infections

Abstract

The Multidrug Drug Resistance (MDR) and Pan-Drug Resistance (PDR) remain an intractable challenge issue in public health, worldwide. Plant extracts-based biological macromolecules containing a diverse array of secondary metabolites could be potentially used as alternative approaches to control or limit MDR/PDR infections. Plants of the Solanaceae family exhibit a wide variety of secondary metabolites with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, which render them a significant role in food and pharmaceutical applications. To our knowledge, this is the first report on phytochemical constituents, antioxidant, antimicrobial activities and <i>in vivo</i> toxicological safety of <i>Lycium shawii</i> leaf extracts. Results revealed that phenolics and flavonoids were found to be the most abundant compounds in all extracts. Antioxidant activity of extracts was measured using DPPH^• and ABTS^•+ assays and the methanol extract displayed superior scavenging activity (IC₅₀ = 0.06 and 0.007 mg/mL for DPPH^• and ABTS^•+, respectively). Results of the GC-MS analysis revealed the identity of 10 compounds. Moreover, <i>in vivo</i> toxicological assessment can confirm the safety of <i>L. shawii</i> for use. Overall, <i>L. shawii</i> leaves are a promising natural source for the development of novel antimicrobial and antioxidant agents that could potentially combat clinical MDR/PDR pathogens.