Iraqi Lemon Peel Extract (Citrus limon) as Antibacterial and Antioxidant Agent

Abstract

The plants are rich of metabolites that can be enter many fields of life, called phytochemicals. The most important features of phytochemicals are shown in human health. The natural components of plants can exhibit anti-diabetic, anti-inflammation, anti-viral, antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, and other properties with benefits to the human health. The bacterial resistance to the traditional drugs has opened the area of research to overcome this serious problem. Another contributor to health problems is oxidative stress, which is caused by an inadequate supply of antioxidants to counteract the free radicals. Lemon (citrus limon) has shown to contain wide spectrum of phytochemicals with therapeutic behavior. Our study was designed to investigate two types of lemon peels extract on microbes growth and free radical scavenging, one as pure peel oil, and the other is an extract by methanol. Our findings demonstrate that an extract of Iraqi lemon peel is an effective microbicidal agent, with significant growth suppression against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp., Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, as well as Candida albicans. The ethanolic extract of the lemon peels has shown to be more effective against the growth of microbes. Furthermore, Iraqi lemon peel extract of both oil and ethanolic have exhibited an antioxidant activity comparable to the pure ascorbic acid. This features of lemon peels make it a very good candidate for natural therapeutic medicine.