PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

In the current study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the phytochemical constituents, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of Callicarpa tomentosa L. belonging to family Lamiaceae. It is an ethno medicinal plant of Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. The different solvent extracts of C. tomentosa (leaf, stem and flower) were subjected to phytochemical analysis. Among the tested phytochemicals the methanol and ethyl acetate extracts gave maximum positive results. Antioxidant activity of different solvent extracts was evaluated by different methods like DPPH assay and total phenolic assay. Antibacterial activity was carried out by using disc diffusion method. All the tested methods showed significant results. The methanol extract of leaf, stem and flower showed maximum radical scavenging activity of 63.15%, 61.12% and 57.86% respectively. The IC₅₀ value of ascorbic acid was 63.40 µg. While, the IC₅₀ values of methanol extracts of leaf, stem and flower were found to be 76.82 µg, 83.03 µg and 88.44 µg respectively. The total phenolic content in different solvent extracts of leaf, stem and flower was determined as gallic acid equivalent (GAE/g). The highest amount of phenolic content was found in leaf (36.50 µg GAE/g), followed by the stem (32.14 µg GAE/g) and flower extracts (32.02 g GAE/g) respectively. The results of antibacterial activity showed Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were resistant to all the extracts tested. Whereas, significant antibacterial activity was observed in all the extracts against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi. The above findings provide scientific basis for the use of C. tomentosa in traditional medicine practices.