Phytochemical, antimicrobial and antioxidant preliminary screening of a traditional Palestinian medicinal plant, Ononis pubescens L.
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Date
2017-08-20
Authors
Jaradat, Nidal Amin
Al-Masri, Motasem
Zaid, Abdel Naser
Hussein, Fatima
Al-Rimawi, Fuad
Abu Mokh, Aseel
Abo Mokh, Jehan
Ghonaima, Sameer
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Abstract
Antibiotic resistance has become a serious global concern, and the discovery of novel antimicrobial
herbal constituents may provide valuable solutions to overcome this problem. It is important to identify new
sources of natural antioxidants and antimicrobials. The present study describes for the first time the antioxidant,
and antibacterial activities of various fractions of Ononis pubescens L., a traditional Palestinian medicinal plant.
Methods: Antimicrobial activity was tested against selected strains from American Type Culture Collection
(ATCC) and clinical isolates including Shigella sonnie, Staphylococcus aureus, Entrococuss feacium, Escherichia coli,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Candida albicans and
Epidermatophyto flacosum using minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay, while antioxidant activity was
analyzed using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method.
Results: A mixture of phytochemicals was found in all of the studied fractions of O. pubescens, which also showed
remarkable potential with antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.
Conclusion: The current study provides initial data that justify the use and importance of Ononis species in
Palestinian folkloric medicine. Our results showed that Ononis pubescens n-hexane fraction has powerful antibacterial
bioactivity against Staphylococcus aureus, as well as the acetone, n-hexane and methanol fractions
which showed excellent potential against Epidermatophyto flacosum fungi, while the acetone fraction showed the
highest antioxidant activity among other fractions. Further investigations are needed to identify and characterize
these constituents.