Abstract

EVALUATION OF VARIOUS PHYTOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF THE STEM EXTRACTS OF SILENE MACROSOLEN STEUD. EX A. RICH. (CARYOPHYLLACEAE)

Minale Fekadie Baye and Dr. Sureshkumar P. Nair*

Abstract

Traditional medicines play a pivotal role in the treatment of various human and animal ailments. Silene macrosolen (family- Caryophyllaceae), locally known as wogert (Ahmaric language) is a popular medicinal shrub distributed over North East Africa-Sudan to Ethiopia and South to Tanzania. This study was conducted to reveal the presence of various phytochemicals in Silene macrosolen, its antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal activities. Phytochemical analysis was carried out in hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, and aqueous extracts by using standard protocols. The total antioxidant activity of ethyl acetate extract was determined using phosphomolybdenum assay method and the absorbance measure at 695 nm using a UVVisible spectrophotometer with ascorbic acid as control. The total antioxidant activity of ascorbic acid and Silene macrosolen extract showed IC50 of 109.668μg/ml and 352.291μg/ml respectively. Silene macrosolen showed considerable antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration was calculated using ED50 PLUS V1.0 software and it was noticed that MIC of stem extract of Silene macrosolen on Escheritia coli was 196.807μg/ml, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was 528.402 μg/ml and that of Staphylococcus aureus was 118.068 μg/ml. The results showed that Silene macrosolen stem extract has significant total antioxidants and considerable antibacterial and antifungal activity.

Keywords: Silene macrosolen, antioxidant activity, antibacterial, antifungal, phytochemicals, medicinal plants.