Planta Med 2022; 88(15): 1422
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1758967
Short Lectures D: Chemistry and bioactivity of natural products

Short Lecture “Investigating the potential of Elegia tectorum as an anti-ageing agent”

MN De Canha∗
1   University Of Pretoria, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Pretoria, South Africa
,
P G Radebe
1   University Of Pretoria, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Pretoria, South Africa
,
B D Payne
1   University Of Pretoria, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Pretoria, South Africa
,
C B Oosthuizen
1   University Of Pretoria, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Pretoria, South Africa
,
D Twilley
1   University Of Pretoria, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Pretoria, South Africa
,
S Verma
1   University Of Pretoria, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Pretoria, South Africa
,
H Skaltsa
2   National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Panepistimiopolis, Greece
,
P Lymperis
2   National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Panepistimiopolis, Greece
,
E-M Tomou
2   National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Panepistimiopolis, Greece
,
L McGaw
3   University of Pretoria, Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Pretoria, South Africa.
,
N Lall
1   University Of Pretoria, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Pretoria, South Africa
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Elegia tectorum, also known as the Cape Thatching Reed (English) is a plant belonging to the Restionaceae family. In South Africa, it is distributed in the Eastern, Western and Northern Cape provinces, populating marshes and deep sandy soils along coastal or lowland flats at altitudes between 10 – 600 m. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-ageing potential of E. tectorum (ET) due to the lack of pharmacological activity and ethnobotanical uses available in literature. The ethanolic extract of ET (ETEtOH) inhibited elastase enzyme activity with an IC50 of 13.50 ± 1.53 µg/mL. Cytotoxicity of ETEtOH was determined on HT29 cells (human colorectal adenocarcinoma) due to their expression of the KIAA1199 protein, responsible for hyaluronic acid degradation. No toxicity was observed at 400 µg/mL. There was significant reduction of KIAA1199 protein production levels in cells treated with 60 µg/mL and 240 µg/mL ETEtOH, when compared to the untreated HT29 cell control. To determine safety of the ETEtOH, the mutagenic potential of the extract was determined, with 50, 500 and 5000 µg/mL showing no mutagenicity using the TA 98 strain of Salmonella typhimurium. A clinical study for irritancy determined the irritancy potential of ETEtOH to be − 30.83, which was less than the negative control (distilled water) characterizing the extract as a non-irritant. An antiwrinkle efficacy study showed that ETEtOH at 10% (w/w) in aqueous cream reduced the appearance of wrinkles after 28 days. The extract of ET is a strong lead for the development of a botanical anti-ageing ingredient.



Publication History

Article published online:
12 December 2022

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