Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Various Therapeutic Plant Aqueous Extracts

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Special food and Nutrition Research Dept., Food Technology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt .

2 Special food and Nutrition Research Dept., Food Technology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt.

3 Food Technology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, 13736 Moshtohor, Egypt.

Abstract

In this investigation, five plant aqueous extracts of dill seeds (Anethum graveolens), basil leaves (Ocimum basilicum), raspberry leaves (Rubus idaeus L.), lemon balm leaves (Melissa ofcinalis L.) and juniper leaves (Juniperus phoenicea), for their capacity to improve wellbeing and health or fend against illnesses. Mass spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography, and diode array detection were used in an investigation of secondary metabolites to identify the phenolic chemicals present in the plant extracts. The total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, and antibacterial efficacy against pathogens of the aqueous extracts were assessed. With the exception for raspberry leaves (Rubus idaeus L.), all of the aqueous extracts demonstrated strong antibacterial activity and substantial DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities. In addition, the majority of the studied extracts, possess antimicrobial and antifungal properties, making them regarded as efficient antibacterial agents against specific pathogenic microbes. More specifically, it was discovered that Gram-positive bacteria were more vulnerable to the extracts than Gram-negative bacteria. The results of this survey can be used to create a baseline for upcoming studies on the same plant species using aqueous extracts.

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