Bioactivities of Traditional Medicinal Plants in Alexandria

Abstract

In traditional folklore, medicinal herbs play a vital role in the prevention and treatment of microbial diseases. In the present study, the phenolic profiles of the medicinal plantsAsparagus aethiopicusL.,Citrullus colocynthisL.,Senna alexandrinaL.,Kalanchoe delagoensisL.,Gasteria pillansiiL.,Cymbopogon citratus,Brassica juncea, andCurcuma longaL. were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode-array detector method. The results revealed rich sources of important compounds such as robinin in the fruits and leaves ofA. aethiopicus; caffeic acid in the tubers ofA. aethiopicusand quercitrin in the leaves ofG. pillansii. Further, relatively high antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal activities were observed inC. colocynthisfruit coat,S. alexandrinapods, andA. aethiopicusleaves, respectively. The relatively higher the bioactivities of plants extracts associated with the phenols in these plants, in particular, the more abundant the phenols. Therefore, it was concluded that the fruit coat ofC. colocynthis, pods ofS. alexandrina, and leaves ofA. aethiopicusmight be excellent sources of natural products. These plant extracts also have a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activities that could be used in the pharmaceutical industries and to control diseases.