The antibacterial, antioxidant and anti enzymatic activities of the leaves’ crude extracts of Hyoscyamus gallagheri

Objective

Oman is a diverse habitat for various rare medicinal plants. Hyoscyamus gallagheri (H. gallagheri), locally known as Zgaf, is one of those rare plants. It is traditionally used for different ailments. This study aims to evaluate the antibacterial, antioxidant, antiulcer and antidiabetic potential of the leaves extracts of H. gallagheri.

Methods

Five extracts (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol, and water) were prepared and investigated for: their antibacterial potential against isolated gram (+ and -) bacteria, total antioxidant activity against DPPH (2,2 Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and enzymatic inhibition of α-glucosidase and urease enzymes. Based on their biological potential, the chloroform and butanol extracts were fractionated by column chromatography using different polarities and proportions of organic solvents. This yielded a total of 9 chloroform and butanol fractions; their antibacterial and antioxidant potentials were investigated using the same methods.

Results

The results showed that all extracts exhibited excellent antibacterial potential against all tested bacterial strains as well as antioxidant potential, at different concentrations. The butanol extract showed the highest antibacterial, antioxidant and enzymatic activities, while the hexane and water extracts showed the least. The chloroform extract did not show any potential against urease and α-glucosidase enzymes. The butanol extract showed weak inhibitory action against α-glucosidase (^IC₅₀ = 585.76 ± 47.5 μg/ml) but the action against the urease enzyme was very good with an (IC50 = 90.3 ± 1.259 μg/ml)^.

Conclusions

Based on the obtained results, the active extract of H. gallagheri could be a valuable source of antioxidants, antibacterial, and urease inhibitory compounds.