Abstract
Menyanthes trifoliata L. is a valuable medical plant found in Europe, North America, and Asia, which grows on peat bogs and swamps. It has long been used in folk medicine as a remedy for various ailments. This is the first report to demonstrate the protective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of aqueous methanolic extracts derived from the aerial parts (MtAPV) and roots (MtRV) of in vitro grown plants on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). It describes the influence of the tested extracts on the expression of antioxidant (HO-1, NQO1, NRF2, kEAP1, and GCLC) and inflammation-related genes (IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-γ) in cells stimulated with H2O2 or LPS, respectively. In addition, M. trifoliata extracts were found to moderately affect the growth of certain bacterial and fungal pathogens, with the strongest antibacterial effect found against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis. M. trifoliata extracts demonstrated protective effects against mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (nDNA) damage caused by ROS, decreasing the numbers of mtDNA lesions in the ND1 and ND2 genes and nDNA damage in the TP53 and HPRT1 genes and reducing cleavage in PARP1- and γ-H2A.X-positive cells. The root extract of in vitro M. trifoliata (MtRV) appears to have better anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and protective properties than the extract from the aerial part (MtAPV). These differences in biological properties may result from the higher content of selected phenolic compounds and betulinic acid in the MtRV than in the MtAPV extract.