Antioxidant, antibacterial, and cytotoxic activities of different parts of Salsola vermiculata

Abstract

Background: Salsola vermiculata is an annual plant which is broadly distributed in southwest of Asia. Due to the lack of data regarding the biological properties of different parts of S. vermiculata, the present research focused on their biological activities. Methods: Different parts of plant were harvested, and phytochemical assay of S. vermiculata parts was performed to determine the presence of phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, fixed oils, and volatile oils. Then, their antioxidant and cytotoxicity activities of the extracts and fractions were evaluated according to DPPH and MTT assay, respectively. Furthermore, the antimicrobial activities of the extracts and fractions were determined by the disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration methods. Results: According to the results, the antioxidant activity and the phenolic contents in leaves and flowers crude extracts of S. vermiculata were high, and their ethyl acetate fractions had higher activities compared to other fractions. The cytotoxic study indicated that the seeds and roots crude extracts significantly exhibited cytotoxic activities with IC50 values of 33.88, 42.92 μg/mL, respectively, and only the fixed oil fractions had cytotoxic activity. Antibacterial activity showed that the fixed oil fraction of roots had the highest activity against Staphylococcus aureus, followed by fixed oil fraction of seeds and volatile oil fraction of the roots. Conclusions: Different parts and fractions of S. vermiculata contain various bioactive compounds with different biological activities, and the results of this study could provide useful information to guide the application of S. vermiculata parts in food and pharmaceutical fields.