Phytochemical screening and in-vitro evaluation of antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of ethanolic extracts of Elephantopus mollis Kunth. (Asteraceae)

Abstract

Elephantopus mollis Kunth is a medicinal plant used in Cameroon and others African countries for the treatment of microbial diseases. This work aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the hydroalcoholic extracts of stems, leaves and whole plant of E. mollis. Phytochemical screening of different extracts has been performed and these were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against ten bacteria and three fungal strains by dilution method while, antioxidant activity was examined using ABTS, DPPH and FRAP assays. Thus, flavonoids, tannins, coumarins, saponins, phenols and alkaloids were constituents detected in those extracts. The results of the antimicrobial tests revealed that, all the extracts were most actives against tested bacteria strains, except for S. enterica NR 13555, while higher antifungal activity was found for C. andida albicans strain. On the other hand, all extracts exhibited antioxidant activity using DPPH and ABTS and FRAP methods. Following, both stems and leaves extracts showed significant antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 2.53 and 4.13 µg/mL, respectively. The results provide justification for the use of this plant in folk medicine to treat various infectious diseases. This study might be considered as a prelude to discover new antibacterial agents.