Abstract

ANTIMICROBIAL, ANTIRADICAL AND XANTHINE OXIDASE INHIBITORY ACTIVITIES OF JUNIPERUS PROCERA PLANT EXTRACTS FROM ALBAHA

Hassan Abd-Al-Tawab Mohammad Samaha, Nasser A. Awadh Ali*, Iman Mansi, Rajab Abu-El-Halawa

ABSTRACT

The Saudi medicinal plant, Juniperus procera Hochst. ex Endl. has been used traditionally for wound healing, rheumatism, and gout. Different organic extracts of J. procera leaves collected from Albaha were investigated for in vitro antimicrobial, antiradical and xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activity. At a concentration of 4 mg /well, chloroform and methanol extracts showed the highest antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria with an inhibition zone diameter ranging from 13-22 mm. The minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) of the chloroform and methanol extracts ranged from 0.5 to 4 mg/mL. Chloroform extract exhibited the highest xanthine oxidase inhibition with an IC50 value of 9.9 μg/mL. This effect was lower than the inhibitory activity of allopurinol that has an IC50 of 3.9 μg/mL. Methanol extract exhibited lower antiradical activity with IC50 of 72 μg/ml than ascorbic acid (IC50: 21.4 μg/ml). The reported results give valuable information on the biological activities of the plant extracts for the potential in treating wound healing and gout.

Keywords: Juniperus, xanthine oxidase, Albaha, antimicrobial.