Chemical composition of the SFE-CO extracts from Cajanus cajan (L.) Huth and their antimicrobial activity in vitro and in vivo.

The in vitro and in vivo antimicrobial activities of SFE-CO₂(supercritical fluid extraction) extracts and ethanol extracts from Cajanus cajan (L.) Huth were investigated. The flavonoid compounds orientin, vitexin, isovitexin, pinostrobin and the stilbene cajaninstilbene acid were detected in SFE-CO₂ extracts by HPLC-DAD. In vitro antimicrobial activities of the extracts were evaluated against eight microbial strains (the bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli; and the fungi Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans). A marked inhibitory effect of the SFE extracts was observed against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis. The IC(50) of SFE-CO₂ extracts ranged from 0.0557 mg/ml to 0.0689 mg/ml consisting of cancer (MCF-7 (0.0557 mg/ml)) as well as non-cancer (BHK-21 (0.0641 mg/ml), RAW264.7 (0.0689 mg/ml) and Vero (0.0625 mg/ml)) cells. Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to analyze death rate of the most sensitive strain (Staphylococcus aureus) caused by the SFE extracts. Additionally, the whole cell proteins of Staphylococcus aureus were analyzed by SDS-PAGE to detect if there were changes in protein patterns. In vivo antimicrobial activity was studies in mice that had been inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus. The potential mechanism of antimicrobial activity in vivo was studied by histopathology.