ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology
An in Vitro Antibacterial, Anti-biofilm, Anti-quorum Sensing and Cytotoxic Activities of Leaf Crude Extracts of Cannabis 'Gorilla Glue 1'
Shadrack Monyela 1,2
Prudence Ngalula Kayoka 1
Olasunkanmi S. Olawuwo 1
Wonder Ngezimana 3
Lufuno Ethel Nemadodzi 1
1. College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Florida, South Africa
2. University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
3. Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Marondera, Zimbabwe
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract
The resilience of biofilms makes it challenging to treat bacterial infections using current conventional antibiotics. The study aimed at assessing the antibacterial, anti-biofilm, anti-quorum-sensing and cytotoxic activities of acetone extracts of Cannabis 'Gorilla Glue 1' against fish bacteria. Antibacterial activity was determined using the two-fold serial microdilution method, and anti-biofilm activity of the extracts was determined using a modified crystal violet staining in vitro assay. Anti-quorum-sensing activity of the extracts was assessed via inhibition of violacein production in Chromobacterium violaceum (ATCC 12472). Cytotoxicity was assessed using a colorimetric assay against Vero kidney cells. Solvent extracts from treatment 0.36gN;0.12gP;0gK showed the best MIC of 0.02 mg/ml against Edwardsiella tard (ATCC 15947) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (ATCC 13525) compared to the other solvent treatment extracts. All the tested solvent extracts from different treatments had the potential to either prevent or destroy the formed biofilms, however, solvent extract treatment 0.36gN;0.06gP;0.12gK showed anti-biofilm activity (>50%) against all the tested fish pathogens. All the solvent extract treatments exhibited similar and good anti-quorum-sensing activities while solvent extract treatment 0.36gN;0.06gP;0.12gK demonstrated the highest inhibitory effect on violacein production, with 98.61% inhibition at a concentration of 1.25 mg/ml. Most solvent extracts were not cytotoxic to Vero cells with LC50 values greater than 0.1 mg/ml except solvent extract 0gN;0.24gP;0gK, which was very toxic to Vero cells with LC50 value of 0.04 mg/ml. Solvent extracts 0.36gN;0.12gP;0gK, 0gN;0.36gP;0.6gK and 0gN;0gP;0gK showed moderate toxicity with LC50 values of 0.06 mg/ml. Solvent extract 0.36gN;0.12gP;0gK displayed the highest selectivity index of 3.00 against Vero cells, proving to be the safest of the extracts investigated. Leaf extracts of Cannabis have useful bioactivities coupled with low cytotoxicity, providing impetus for further studies on the possible development of these plants as protective feed additives against microbial attack in fish production.
Summary
Keywords
Antibacterial, Biofilm, Cannabis, Cytotoxicity, Fish bacteria
Received
20 November 2025
Accepted
26 January 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Monyela, Kayoka, Olawuwo, Ngezimana and Nemadodzi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Lufuno Ethel Nemadodzi
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.