Ethnopharmacology, ecological requirements, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of perovskia abrotanoides Karel. Extract for vaginal infections from Semnan Province

Abstract

Objectives: Perovskia abrotanoides Karel. is an aromatic plant cultivated in North of Iran, which has been used as anti-inflammatory, sedative, and antiinfective. This work intended to determine the ecological requirements, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of P. abrotanoides Karel. extract from Semnan province (North of Iran). Materials and Methods: Aerial parts of plant in bloom were collected from Tash Mountain (2120 m) in September, 2014. Some ecological requirements and traditional data were obtained from rural people. Ethanol extracts of plant were obtained by maceration method; total flavonoid (TF) and total phenols (TP) were measured by spectrophotometry; antioxidant capacity was measured by TAC, RP, and DPPH; and the antimicrobial activity was studied against some microorganisms using well method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)assay. Results: Field observations showed that the P. abrotanoides Karel. is one of the wild growing herbs in the feet of the mountain in Semnan province (2000-2700 m). This area has dry cold climate type, with annual raining of 280 mm, temperature rate of 15.5 ̊C, and sandy clay loam soil (Ec=0.9 and pH= 7.1). Plant extract was rich source of TF (84.2 ± 0.4 mg QUE/g) and TP contents (143.4 ± 0.2 mgGAE/g) and had good antioxidant activity (IC50 = 15.03 ± 1.2 mg/mL) especially in DPPH method. Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus cereus, and Enterococcus faecalis were the most sensitive microorganisms with inhibition zones of 34, 32, 28, 21, 19 mm and MIC values of 58, 45, 53, 63, and 85 mg/mL, respectively. Conclusion: Perovskia abrotanoides Karel. has the potential productivity of TP and TF constituents with suitable anti-Candida, antibacterial and antioxidant activities. Therefore it can be used as natural antiinfective to treat many infectious diseases such as vaginal infections.