Abstract

ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES OF SOME COMMERCIAL PLANTS FROM MACEDONIA

Eljona Chilku*, Snezana Ivic Kolevska and Tatjana Kadifkova Panovska

ABSTRACT

The ethanolic crude extracts of Calendula officinalis L. (flores), Primula officinalis L.(flores), Sambucus nigra L.(flores), Helichrysum arenarium L.(flores), have been examined for their antioxidant and antibacterial activity. DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) radical was used for evaluation of free radical scavenging and the antibacterial activity was evaluated by using agar well diffusion assay. Among the studied plants, Primula officinalis L. (IC50 = 152.94 μg/ml) showed better antioxidant activity, followed by Sambucus nigra L (IC50 = 313.04 μg/ml) and Helichrysum arenarium L. (IC50 = 333.59 μg/ml). Calendula officinalis L. showed very weak antioxidant activity (IC50 = 1066.65 μg/ml). Plant extracts were tested against six bacterial stains: Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Pseudomonus auriginosa ATCC 9027, Klepsiella pnumonia ATCC 700603, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 19433. All four extracts were able to inhibit most of the stains. The best results were given against S. aureus, while K. pneumonia was shown as the most resistant stein. The results indicated that all of the plant extracts tested in this study, could be considered promising natural antioxidant sources and great potential as natural antibacterial compounds against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.

Keywords: antioxidant, DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) radical, antibacterial.