Abstract
Introduction: There is a growing interest of industry to replace synthetic chemicals by natural products with bioactive properties from plant origin. The present study reported the antioxidant activity and scolicidal effects of the crude extracts from Mentha spicata, M. aquatica, M. longifolia, and M. × piperita var. citrata growing in Iran. Methods: Total phenolic, flavonoid and flavonol contents of the four Mentha taxa were examined. Two antioxidant assays i.e. free radical scavenging activity (DPPH assay) and reducing power assay were used for determining the antioxidant capacity of the alcoholic extracts. Scolicidal activity of serial dilutions (15–200 mg/mL) of Mentha extracts was evaluated after 1, 5, 10, 20 and 30 minutes of exposure time. Results: Methanol was the solvent yielding the highest values of total phenolic (TPC), flavonoid (TFC) and flavonol contents (TFvC). On the other hand, the extracts from M. × piperita var. citrata gave the highest total phenolic content (191.6 mg gallic acid equivalent per g; GAE/g), total flavonoid content (57.0 mg quercetin per g; QE/g) and total flavonol content (15.3 mg QE/g) values. The methanol extracts of M. × piperita var. citrata also gave the strongest DPPH radical scavenging activity (83.2%), whereas the reducing power yielded absorbance values between 0.189 in M. spicata and 1.16 in M. × piperita var. citrata. The highest scolicidal activity (99.54%) was observed in 200 mg/mL methanol extract of M. aquatica after 30 minutes of application. Conclusion: Overall, M. × piperita var. citrata and M. aquatica could be the taxa of choice for future supplementary studies.
Highlights
There is a growing interest of industry to replace synthetic chemicals by natural products with bioactive properties from plant origin
Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education: Extracts of Mentha species exhibited potent antioxidant and scolicidal activities, which may have significant implications for the future development of anti-parasitic drugs derived from Mentha species
The aim of the present work was to determine the biological activities, namely antioxidant and scolicidal effects, of the most common Mentha species growing in Iran (M. spicata L., M. aquatica L., M. longifolia L., M. × piperita L. var. citrata) in order to find further applications in the pharmaceutical industries
Summary
There is a growing interest of industry to replace synthetic chemicals by natural products with bioactive properties from plant origin. Parasitic diseases are usually dealt with synthetic drugs Such cures have some disadvantages, e.g. side effects, cost and risk of misuse leading to drug resistance, unavailability of treatments in developing countries, and environmental and food pollution [4]. These problems stimulated the research of other potential therapeutic options, plantsbased derivatives in particular. A large number of medicinal and aromatic plants contain chemical compounds, with antioxidant and therapeutic activities. Among these various kinds of natural substances, phenolic compounds including flavonoids, are receiving particular attention
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