Bioactivity of Kemangi Leaves (Ocimum sanctum) and Ruku Leaves (Ocimum tenuiflorum)

Abstract

Kemangi (Ocimum sanctum) is commonly used as a vegetable (fresh vegetables) and traditional medicine in Indonesia. Kemangi leaves have been empirically used as an alternative medicine for wound healing. Apart from kemangi, a morphologically similar plant to kemangi, namely ruku ruku, is often used by Indonesians as a cooking spice. The leaves of ruku ruku (Ocimum tenuiflorum) have been empirically used in various alternative medicine, namely to treat fever, cough, gout, nerves, mouth sores, tinea versicolor, nausea and vomiting. The research was conducted to determine the antimicrobial activity (antibacterial and antifungal), antioxidants and phytochemical analysis of the ethanol extract of kemangi leaves and ruku ruku leaves. The extraction method used is the maceration method using 96% ethanol as a solvent. The antimicrobial test was carried out using the agar diffusion method. The bacteria used are Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, while the fungi used are Candida albicans. Phytochemical analysis used the Harbone method, and the antioxidant test used the 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl Hidrazil (DPPH) method. The results showed that the extracts of kemangi and ruku ruku leaves contained flavonoid and steroid compounds. The antimicrobial test results showed that only ruku ruku leaves inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus with an inhibition zone of 9.35 mm, and the two extracts used could not inhibit the growth of the fungus Candida albicans. In contrast, the results of the antioxidant test showed that the ruku ruku and kemangi leaf extracts had an antioxidant activity with inhibition concentration 50 (IC50) values of 225.64 ppm and 455.11 ppm. Keywords: Bioactivity, Kemangi, Phytochemicals, Ruku.

Neuroprotective activity of Indonesian traditional herbal medicine: A systematic review

“…, cardioprotective, antioxidant, and mosquito repellent (Rahmawati and Silaban, 2021;Siddique et al, 2014). Its neuroprotective effect was known through the activity of O. sanctum hydroalcoholic extract against H 2 O 2 in inducing neuronal cell damage through its antioxidative defense mechanism (Venuprasad et al, 2017).…”