ABSTRACT
Abstract Ecballium elaterium species are mostly used as therapeutic agents and food ingredient. The current work was designed to investigate phytochemical contents, antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties of methanol fruits extract of Ecballium elaterium. Good antioxidant activity was observed with IC50 values of 156 ± 4 and 377 ± 6 μg/mL for DPPH and ABTS, respectively, and EC50 of 126 ± 4 µg/mL for FRAP assays, which is related with their richness in total phenolic, flavonoid and condensed tannins contents. The results of antibacterial activity showed the effectiveness of methanol extract against Bacillus cereus with value of inhibition zone diameter of 15 ± 0 mm and a MIC and MBC values of 6 ± 0 and 12 ± 0 mg/mL, respectively. The in vivo anti-inflammatory effects have been also studied by carrageenan induced rat paw edema assay and the results revealed that a dose of 75 mg/kg induced a significant inhibition of 66.4% at 2 h. FT-IR spectral data justified the presence of biological functional groups such as ─OH, C─H, C─O, C─C and C=O. These results highlighted the potential using of Ecballium elaterium fruits extract as natural antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents for food applications and for the pharmaceutical industry.
ABSTRACT
Rosmarinus officinalis (Lamiaceae), commonly known as rosemary and iklil, is often used by North African populations for the treatment of several inflammatory and infectious diseases. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties of essential oil extracted from the seeds and leaves of R. officinalis. Antimicrobial activity assays involved the determination of inhibition zones and the minimum inhibitory concentration with regards to sixteen pathogenic microbial strains, using disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration methods. The oil showed excellent activity against Staphylococcus aureus, followed by Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus 25923, with strong inhibition zones of 38.00, 29.40 and 26.00 mm, respectively. Cytotoxicity assays involved the application of an MTT testing method against HeLa cell lines. The results yielded high IC50 value values of up to 26,77 μg/ml. overall, the findings provided strong support for the strong candidacy of this plant for potential future application, particularly in the food and pharmaceutical industries, as a safe and costeffective natural additive to substitute toxic synthetic food additives.