Pulicaria undulata: A Potential Phytochemical, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Source

Phytochemical analysis, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and aqueous extracts of the plant Pulicari aundulata (L.) C. A. Myer was carried out by using various techniques. The phytochemical analysis of the plant material showed the presence of alkaloids (15.53 percentage), flavonoids (15.81 percentage), phenols (18.91 percentage), saponins (12.13 percentage) and tannins (6.42 percentage). Antimicrobial activity indicated that methanolic extract showed maximum antibacterial potential 44 ± 3.05 mm against P. aureginosa, chloroform extract 39 ± 0.5 mm and petroleum ether extract 37 ± 2.6 mm against S. aureus. The petroleum ether extract showed maximum zone of inhibition of antifungal potential by A. niger which was 32 ± 1.1 mm. The MIC assay was carried out for further analysis which showed the MIC value of methanolic extract was 0.051 ± 0.1 at 1 mg/ml against P. aureginosa and the MIC value against A. niger was 0.52 ± 0.22 at 0.2 mg/ml. Antioxidant potential was determined by using four methods 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity (DPPH), total antioxidant activity (TAA), total phenolic contents (TPC) and metal chelating activity (MC). The aqueous extract showed highest value of percentage DPPH 73.55 percentage at 250 μg/ml and the IC50 value of aqueous extract was 214.45 ± 0.67. The maximum values of total antioxidant activity (3.607 ± 0.33) was observed by aqueous extract, total phenolic content (11.76 ± 2.1) by chloroform and metal chelating activity (64.19 ± 1.5) by aqueous extract. (author)