Mitigation of oxidative stress in yeast cells by Bacopa monnieri methanolic extract

The objective of the present study was to assess the influence of the methanolic leaf extract of Bacopa monnieri on the extent of cell death in yeast cells due to induced oxidative stress. The yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) cells were employed and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was the oxidant used to cause oxidative stress. The cells were exposed to oxidative stress and by examining distinctive apoptotic processes, the extracts’ ability to mitigate this stress was evaluated. The various cytotoxicity assays 2-(4,4-dimethyl-2-tetrazoyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2,4-tetrazolium salt (MTT) and sulforhodamine B (SRB) and changes related to apoptosis viz., morphological and nuclear changes by various staining techniques (Giemsa, propidium iodide [PI], ethidium bromide [EtBr] and 4',6-diamidino?2-phenylindole [DAPI]) and DNA damage (diphenylamine method) were assessed in S. cerevisiae cells with/without leaf extract and oxidant (hydrogen peroxide), statistically analyzed and P<0.05 was considered significant. The outcomes made it abundantly evident that H2O2 caused a sharp increase in the number of S. cerevisiae cells going through apoptotic cell death. The amount of apoptosis was not increased by Bacopa monnieri leaf extract alone and the apoptotic cells were significantly reduced when the plant extract was co-administered with H2O2. Therefore, it is clear that the methanolic extract of Bacopa monnieri leaves has been shown to protect Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells from stress-induced oxidative damage.