Cytotoxic, antimicrobial and DNA breaking activity of Salgam

Abstract

Salgam is one of the traditional fermented beverage that was produced and consumed by Turkish people. It is a sour-soft beverage which is red in colour. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the cytotoxic, antimicrobial and DNA breaking activity of Salgam. Here, the cytotoxic effect of Salgam was studied by MTT assay using K562 (human bone marrow cells) cell line. Genotoxic effect of Salgam was studied by testing the effect of the substance on supper coiled double helix DNA. In addition, antibacterial effects of Salgam were investigated using Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus strains. K562 cells were treated with Salgam concentrations of 0.3125%, 0.625%, 1.25%, 2.5%, 5% and 10% for 24 h, after that cytotoxic effect of Salgam was studied by MTT test. Three methods were used to determine the antibacterial effect of Salgam; Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) and Disc Diffusion Assay. DNA damaging effect of four concentrations of Salgam against pET22b circular DNA also investigated. Salgam inhibited proliferation of K526 cells at highest concentration for 24 h treatment period. It had no effect on Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae and the result of pET22 plasmid DNA breaking analysis revealed that Salgam did not affect the pET22b. Therefore, it concluded that Salgam can be considered as a safe beverage for human cells and bacterial flora.