A study on the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities in the chloroformic and methanolic extracts of 6 important medicinal plants collected from north of Iran

Abstract

Background The plant essential oils and extracts are possible sources of natural bioactive molecules and have been selected globally for new antimicrobial compounds, food preservatives, and alternatives to treat infectious disease. Methods In this research, antimicrobial activities of chloroformic and methanolic extracts of Sophora flavescens , Rhaponticum repens , Alhagi maurorum , Melia azedarach , Peganum harmala , and Juncus conglomeratus were evaluated against 8 bacteria ( S. aureus , B. subtilis , R. toxicus , P. aeruginosa , E. coli , P. syringae , X. campestris , P. viridiflava ) and 3 fungi ( Pyricularia oryzae , Fusarium oxysporum and Botrytis cinerea ) through disc diffusion method. Furthermore, the essential oil of plants with the highest antibacterial activity was analyzed utilizing GC/MS. Moreover, tested plants were exposed to screening for possible antioxidant effect utilizing DPPH test, guaiacol peroxidas, and catalase enzymes. Besides, the amount of total phenol and flavonoid of these plants was measured. Results Among tested plants, methanolic and chloroformic extracts of P. harmala fruits showed the highest antibacterial activity against tested bacteria. Also, the investigation of free radical scavenging effects of the tested plants indicated the highest DPPH, protein, guaiacol peroxidase, and catalase in P. harmala , M. azedarach , J. conglomeratus fruits, and J. conglomeratus fruits, respectively. In addition, the phytochemical analysis demonstrated the greatest amounts of total phenolic, and flavonoid compositions in J. conglomeratus and P. harmala . Conclusion The results indicated that these plants can act as a promising antimicrobial agent due to its short killing time.