Evaluation of antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of muscari muscarimi medik. Bulb and flower extracts from Turkey

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of the several extracts obtained from the bulb and flowers of Muscari muscarimi which is endemic for the flora of Turkey. While beta-carotene/linoleic acid and DPPH methods were used for the determining antioxidant activity, Folin-Ciocalteu assay was used to detect the total phenolic contents in all extracts of M. muscarimi. The brine shrimp lethality test was used to screen for the possible cytotoxic activity of the extracts. Also, the ethanolic and methanolic extracts of M. muscari were tested against different microorganisms by means of disc diffusion method. In this case, Candid a albicans and Bacillus subtilis were found to be the most sensitive microorganisms with the zone of inhibition 19.2 mm and 17.1 mm, respectively. The results of the cytotoxic activity of the extracts revealed that the bulb extracts were more active than the flower extracts. The ethanolic bulb extract showed most noticeable activity with LC50 7.43 mu g/ml. Total phenolic contents of the extracts ranged from 18.35 to 38.13 mgGAEs/g extracts. Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities in all flower extracts were found to be higher than the bulb extracts. The results for higher antioxidant activity in flower extracts could be explained by presence of greater concentration of phenolics in the extracts. Results of the present study give strong scientific evidence for traditional uses of M. muscarimi.