Seasonal Variations in Antioxidant Activity, Total Flavonoids Content, Total Phenolic Content, Antimicrobial Activity and Some Bioactive Components of Ficus carica L. in Palestine

Abstract

The genus Ficus is one of the largest genera of angiosperms with more than 800 species. This study aimed at investigating the pharmacological properties of Ficus carica linn. Leaves were collected in two seasons (May and October) and were extracted by Soxhlet extractor with different percentages of methanol-water, ethanol-water and pure water solvents. 100% methanol and 95% ethanol offered the highest yield (about 23%). Those extracts were further extracted/partitioned with nbutanol. May samples showed higher TPC, TFC and AA results than October samples. The ethanolbutanol extract had the highest TPC results (150.7±0.5 mg GA/g extract), while methanol-butanol extract showed the highest results for TFC and AA (350±4.3 mg Rutin/g extract and 368.1±1.9 mg FeSO4/g extract, respectively). Ethanol and methanol extracts were weakly active against E. coli, while the extracts showed good inhibition activity against oral flora, where October samples gave higher activity than May samples. Some components of extracts were analyzed by a newly developed HPLCPDA method. Eight compounds were identified: chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, coumaric acid, rutin and trans-cinnamic acid. Quercetin was identified after acid hydrolysis of extracts in all sample extracts, while ferulic acid was present in water extract only.