Activity and Acute Toxicity of Centella asiatica Leaf Extract in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

This study aimed to analyze the antibacterial activity and acute toxicity of leaf extracts and the target protein binding affinity of Centella asiatica bioactive compounds. The results showed that the antibacterial efficacy of crude extracts was significant against Streptococcus agalactiae, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus, with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranging from 0.024±0.04 to 6.25±3.72 mg/ml. Against Aeromonas hydrophila, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the MIC values ranged from 12.5±4.19 to 25.0±12.14 mg/ml. In acute toxicity examination, the LC₅₀ of the extract in the zebrafish model was determined to be 156.2±26.09 mg/L, with 100% mortality recorded at the highest test dosage of 1000 mg/L. Moreover, in silico ADME/T prediction and molecular docking analyses showed that asiatic acid has the highest antibacterial activity, with the lowest binding energies of –8.0 kcal/mol against DNA gyrase and –9.1 kcal/mol against penicillin–binding protein, outperforming ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin with binding energies of –7.8 kcal/mol and – 6.8 kcal/mol, respectively. The studies suggested that asiatic acid from Centella asiatica has the potential to be used as an antibacterial agent.