{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T16:28:49Z","timestamp":1788798529330,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,8]],"date-time":"2023-02-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675814400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia","award":["RSP2023R375"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RSP2023R375"]}]},{"name":"TWAS-National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa","award":["RSP2023R375"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RSP2023R375"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Plants"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Diospyros villosa is traditionally used for an anti-bacterial property. Its cytotoxic effects have not been studied before. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the nutritional properties as well the cytotoxic effects of D. villosa. The leaves and stem barks were subjected to three different extraction methods (methanol, chloroform and hexane) and their nanoparticles were synthesized at two different temperatures (room temperature and at 80 \u00b0C). Thereafter, extracts were assessed using the associated AOCC protocols, for their nutritional content (moisture, fibre, proteins, lipid, ash and hydrolysable carbohydrates). Diospyros villosa extracts and their corresponding nanoparticles were then incubated overnight with cancerous and noncancerous cell lines to evaluate their cytotoxic potential. The nutritional analysis revealed that both young and mature leaves were rich sources of protein having values of 14.95% and 11.37% respectively. The moisture content was observed to be higher in all the leaf types (8.54 \u00b1 0.75%, 9.67 \u00b1 0.98% and 7.40 \u00b1 0.80%) compared to the stem (2.13 \u00b1 0.07%) respectively. The MTT cytotoxicity assay showed that the cell viability of MCF-7 cell lines was significantly lower when exposed to hexane and chloroform leaves extracts of D. villosa (IC50 of 26.64 and 26.07 \u00b5g mL\u22121) respectively, compared to camptothecin (36.54 \u00b5g mL\u22121). Similarly, the MCF-7 cell viability was observed to be significantly lower when exposed to hexane and chloroform stem extracts of D. villosa (IC50 of 24.57 and 3.92 \u00b5g mL\u22121), compared to camptothecin (36.54 \u00b5g mL\u22121). The cell viability of A549 cell lines was also found lower when exposed to the hexane and chloroform extracts (IC50 of 7.76 and 4.59 \u00b5g mL\u22121) compared to camptothecin (IC50 of 19.26 \u00b5g mL\u22121). Furthermore, the viability of A549 cell lines was found lower when exposed to hexane and chloroform stem extracts of D. villosa (IC50 of 10.67 and 5.35 \u00b5g mL\u22121) compared to camptothecin (19.26 \u00b5g mL\u22121). The biosynthesized nanoparticles further displayed an anticancer activity with an IC50 value of 4.08 \u00b5g mL\u22121 when compared to the control (36.54 \u00b5g mL\u22121). However, the HEK293 cell viability was observed to be significantly higher on exposure to hexane stem extracts of D. villosa (IC50 of 158.5 \u00b5g mL\u22121) compared to camptothecin (IC50 of 14.77 \u00b5g mL\u22121). Therefore, Diospyros villosa leaves, stem bark and nanoparticles synthesized showed high potential for being considered as a candidate for an anti-cancer regimen.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/plants12040769","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,9]],"date-time":"2023-02-09T02:55:54Z","timestamp":1675911354000},"page":"769","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Cytotoxic Potential of Diospyros villosa Leaves and Stem Bark Extracts and Their Silver Nanoparticles"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Oluwatosin Temilade","family":"Adu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yougasphree","family":"Naidoo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Johnson","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Depika","family":"Dwarka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Durban University of Technology, P.O. Box 1334, Durban 4000, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"John","family":"Mellem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Durban University of Technology, P.O. Box 1334, Durban 4000, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5503-0202","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hosakatte Niranjana","family":"Murthy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Horticultural Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5174-8137","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yaser Hassan","family":"Dewir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Plant Production Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-020-77284-8","article-title":"Lung squamous cell carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma differential gene expression regulation through pathways of Notch, Hedgehog, Wnt, and ErbB signalling","volume":"10","author":"Anusewicz","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sci. 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