Phytochemical Screening, Antioxidant, Antibacterial, and Antidandruff Activities of Leaf Extract of Artemisia indica

Artemisia indica is a traditionally used medicinal plant in the treatment of various conditions such as loss of appetite, abdominal discomfort, antimalarial infection, dermal wound infection, etc.

This study aims to determine the presence of phytochemical content, antioxidant, antibacterial, and antidandruff activity of leaf extract of A. indica.

Dried ground leaves were subjected to a cold extraction method using an absolute concentration of methanol, ethanol, and water. Total phenolic, flavonoid, and proanthocyanidin content was estimated by using a linear regression equation from the calibration curve and expressed in terms of gallic acid equivalent (GAE) and rutin equivalent (RE). Antioxidant properties were determined using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl), nitric oxide, and hydrogen peroxide assay, and their IC50 values were calculated. The antibacterial activity was tested using the agar well diffusion method against the common five pathogenic strains, and the zone of inhibition is compared with gentamicin (1 mg/mL) as a positive control. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value was obtained by the microbroth dilution method. The antidandruff assay was performed on Malassezia furfur by the disk diffusion method into Sabouraud dextrose agar overlaid with 1 mL of olive oil, and the MIC value was determined by the microtiter plate method.

The result showed that the Artemisia methanolic extract represents ample content of phenolics (248±3.29 mg/g of GAE), flavonoids (222.33±4.41 mg/g of RE), and proanthocyanidin (222.83±1.62 mg/g of RE equivalent). The antioxidant assay revealed that methanolic extract has the highest radical scavenging activity followed by aqueous extract and then ethanolic extract. The antibacterial activity of leaf extract shows MIC value ranging from 6 to 25 µg/mL against various human pathogenic bacteria. The antidandruff assay showed that MIC value of methanolic extract is lesser than that of ethanolic extract (350<400) mg/mL.

The results concluded that leaf extract of A. indica contains phenolics, flavonoids, and proanthocyanidin and exhibits adequate antibacterial, antidandruff, and antioxidant activity.