Surveying the Antioxidant and the Antimicrobial Effects of Aqueous and Ethanolic Extract of Rumex Alveollatus L. on In-vitro Indicator Microorganisms

In recent years, more attention has been devoted to herbal medicines. Up to now, many compounds with therapeutic effects has been extracted from the herbs. The aim of this study is to evaluate the antioxidant and the antimicrobial effect of Rumex Alveollatus L. and to partially identify the effective compounds in this plant. Extraction was performed by using maceration method for dried flower sample. Then, the antimicrobial effect of aqueous and ethanolic extracts on eight bacterial sp. and two fungi were tested using disc diffusion method. The antioxidant effect was also determined through ferric reducing potency and phosphomolybdenum followed by total phenol determination. Finally, partial detection of bioactive compounds was conducted using chemical and calorimetric methods. The results showed that ethanolic extract had the most antimicrobial effect; while aqueous extract weakly affected bacterial and fungal strains. Antioxidant experiments also revealed that ethanol extract had more antioxidant effects than aqueous extract. The most content of total phenolic compounds was found in ethanol extract. The results of the plant chemical determination showed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, anthraquinones, tannins, glycosides, and reducing sugars. Considering that few reports about the therapeutic effect of Rumex alveollatus L. has been published, this study could be considered as a valuable report about the important role of this plant on preventing infections and neutralizing oxidant agents.