Background: Plants have always been a successful source of remedy from nature. With the widespread use of medicinal plants by indigenous people,
the search for biologically active agents is relevant as these plants have the potential to provide pharmacologically active compounds. This study
aimed for investigating the effect of antioxidant and antibacterial properties of
Ziziphus mucronata
Willd (Rhamnaceae) and
Ricinus Communis
L.
(Euphorbiaceae).
Materials: aluminum-backed TLC plates (Fluka, silica gel F254), vanillin-sulphuric acid reagent, Fehling’s solution, concentrated sulphuric acid,
ferric chloride, Drangendorff’s reagent, acetic anhydride, 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH),
p-iodonitrotetrazolium violet,
Methods: Antibacterial activity was evaluated using microdilution assay and bioautography. Antioxidant activities were determined by using 2, 2-
diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). In vitro cytotoxicity was determined using the tetrazolium-based colorimetric assay.
Results: R. communis leaves had eight secondary metabolites. Quantitative assay for
R. communis, chloroform and methanol extracts had very high
antioxidant activity compared to vitamin C. Plants extracts from all solvents exhibited high antibacterial activity against
Staphylococcus aureus
,
Enterococcus faecalis
,
Escherichia coli
and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values between 0.21 and 1.05
mg/ml. Most of the antibacterial compounds observed on bioautography had R
f values ranging from 0.21 to 0.88.
Z. mucronata had LC50 of 105.5
μg/ml and
R. communis 131.8 μg/ml on Vero cells.
Conclusion: This study revealed that both plants had free radical scavenging and antibacterial activities.
