ObjectiveSenecio asirensis, an endemic species of Saudi Arabia, has been traditionally used to treat various ailments. The present study aimed to investigate the phytochemical composition, antimicrobial activity, and cytotoxic potential of Senecio asirensis fractions, and to identify the main compounds in the extract that are the most active.MethodsThe antimicrobial activity was evaluated using disc diffusion assay. Moreover, the cytotoxic activity evaluated using the MTT assay in various cancer cell lines (MCF-7, HepG2, and A549) and validated by molecular docking for the major compound of the most active fraction. Finally, gas chromatography and a mass spectrometer (GC-MS) analysis was carried out to identify the chemical compounds in hexane extract of Senecio asirensis.ResultsThe hexane fraction exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria ( S. aureus) and yeast organisms ( C. albicans and C. tropicalis), while chloroform and butanol fractions showed no activity against the tested microbial strains. Moreover, in the cytotoxic activity assay, notably, the hexane fraction showed a significantly higher cytotoxic effect on MCF-7. The GC-MS analysis of the hexane fraction revealed the presence of 26 phytoconstituents, with nonacosane being the most abundant compound. Therefore, the molecular docking was employed to validate the cytotoxic activity for the major compound of the most active fraction (nonacosane) against human DNA topoisomerase IIa.ConclusionThese findings provide a scientific basis for the traditional use of S. asirensis in medicine and suggest that its bioactive compounds have potential therapeutic applications in anticancer treatments. Further research is needed to isolate and characterize other active compounds and to explore potential synergistic effects among them.

中文翻译：

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使用体外和计算机方法测定千里光己烷部分的植物化学成分和细胞毒性活性

目的千里光（Senecio asirensis）是沙特阿拉伯的特有物种，传统上用于治疗各种疾病。本研究旨在研究千里光提取物的植物化学成分、抗菌活性和细胞毒性潜力，并鉴定提取物中最具活性的主要化合物。方法采用纸片扩散测定法评价抗菌活性。此外，使用 MTT 测定在各种癌细胞系（MCF-7、HepG2 和 A549）中评估细胞毒性活性，并通过分子对接对最具活性部分的主要化合物进行验证。最后，通过气相色谱和质谱（GC-MS）分析来鉴定千里光己烷提取物中的化学成分。结果己烷馏分对革兰氏阳性菌（S. aureus）和酵母菌（S. aureus）表现出显着的抗菌活性。白色念珠菌和热带念珠菌），而氯仿和丁醇级分对测试的微生物菌株没有表现出活性。此外，在细胞毒活性测定中，值得注意的是，己烷级分对 MCF-7 显示出显着更高的细胞毒作用。己烷馏分的 GC-MS 分析表明存在 26 种植物成分，其中二十烷是最丰富的化合物。因此，我们采用分子对接方法来验证最活跃组分（九二十烷）的主要化合物对人DNA拓扑异构酶IIa的细胞毒活性。结论这些研究结果为阿西雷神草的传统医学用途提供了科学依据，并表明其生物活性化合物在抗癌治疗中具有潜在的治疗应用。需要进一步的研究来分离和表征其他活性化合物，并探索它们之间潜在的协同效应。