Chemical composition, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of balanophora latisepala (V. tiegh.) lecomte in an giang, vietnam

Abstract

Balanophora latisepala is a species of angiosperm, which does not contain chlorophyll. This species has compulsory parasitic life on host trees and has been found in Bay Nui area, An Giang, Vietnam. This study was aimed to examine the phytochemical constituents, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the Balanophora latisepala whole stem. Phytochemical screening was done using previously described method, the antioxidant activity was determined using DPPH free radical scavenging method while the antibacterial activity was evaluated by the agar well diffusion method. Preliminary phytochemical screening identified the following constituents; alkaloids, carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, phenols, amino acids and proteins, saponins, sterols, tannins, terpenoids, quinones, phytosterols, gum and resin, xanthoproteic, coumarins and essential oils. With respect to the antioxidant activity, the aqueous extract of Balanophora latisepala was comparable to the methanol extract in neutralizing DPPH free radical, with half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) of 107.65 ± 4.90 µg/mL and 101.50 ± 2.37 µg/mL, respectively. These two extracts were able to neutralize DPPH radical more significantly than the ethanol extract (EC50 = 806.30 ± 23.52 µg/mL) (p < 0.05). For the antibacterial activity, at a concentration of 400 mg/mL, the aqueous extract of B. latisepala was most active against Salmonella sp. compared to the other bacterial strains including Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. The methanol extract at 400 mg/mL was the least active against P. aeruginosa and Salmonella sp. These preliminary results showed that B. latisepala is a rare species that has low antioxidant and low antibacterial activities.