Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Allium Sativum and Allium Cepa

Abstract

Garlic and onion have been used widely as common household spices from the ancient period and have also been regarded as traditional healers. This study was designed to evaluate the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of fresh extracts of garlic and onion. Activities of enzymatic antioxidants (superoxide dismutase and catalase) and non-enzymatic antioxidant (ascorbic acid content) activities were measured and compared in between garlic and onion extracts. Superoxide dismutase and catalase activities in garlic were found noticeably high (p < 0.05) compared to onion but significantly reverse in case of the ascorbic acid content (p < 0.05). Likewise, six bacteria were chosen to study antibacterial activities of garlic and onion. The zones of inhibitions exhibited by the extracts against B. cereus, S. aureus, Micrococcus sp., E. coli, Klebsiella sp. and Proteus sp. were compared with the reference antibiotic chloramphenicol (1%). Antibacterial activity of the garlic extract singly and its mixture with onion extract in the ratio 1:1 against the tested bacteria were found significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the onion extract.

Phytochemical Characteristics and Antimicrobial Activity of Australian Grown Garlic (Allium Sativum L.) Cultivars

“…Many studies have shown evidence of a significant reduction of the risk of developing chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular, cancer, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, platelet aggregation, cholesterol lowering) associated with garlic consumption [1,2,3,4,5]. Together with therapeutic functions, garlic possesses additional biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant properties [6,7,8], resulting in garlic being one of the most important vegetables worldwide [9].…”

Anti-Microbial Activities of Shallots (Allium cepa L.) Extract and Garlic (Allium sativum L.) Extract on the Growth of Peat Soil Bacteria

“…Shallots (Allium cepa L.) contain many phytochemical compounds, most of which are hydrocarbons and their derivatives (Griffiths et al, 2002). Quercetin and allicin are the main components of shallots that act as antimicrobials, especially antibacterials (Shrestha et al, 2016), quercetin is bound to the bacterial enzyme DNA gyrase and allicin inhibits enzymes that contain thiol (Ankri & Mirelman, 1999). DNA gyrase is an essential bacterial enzyme that catalyzes ATP-dependent negative super-coiling of double-stranded closed-circular DNA, which is included in the topoisomerase enzyme group (Reece & Maxwell, 1991) (Papillon et al, 2013).…”

“…Garlic (Allium sativum) also contains many phytochemical compounds that have pharmaceutical effects, including allicin which is the most potent compound as an antibacterial agent (Shrestha et al, 2016).…”

“…This suggests that the tested bacterial strains obtained from peat soil are thought to be gram-negative bacteria so that the inhibition (antimicrobial activity) of shallots decreases. (Shrestha et al, 2016) through research that has been conducted, concluded that the mixture of garlic extract is more potential as an antibacterial than red onion extract, even the mixture of garlic and onion (1:1) still shows better antimicrobial activity.…”

Nutritional Management Approach for Possible Prevention of COVID-19 Infection and Transmission in Sub-Saharan and Biodiversity Endowed Countries

“…The beneficial effects associated garlic may be due in part to sulfur-containing compounds such as allicine, diallyl disulfide, diallyl trisulfide that react with thiol groups of various enzymes which are critical for microorganism surveillance [164]. Spyridon et al [165] reviewed the Pharmacological effects of Allium hirtifolium and found Zinc of considereable amounts while Reyhaneh [166] determined the chemical composition and reported a vitamin C content of 31mg. Deepak et al [167] indicated that garlic extracts singly had a greater potency than 1% chloramphenicol producing significant susceptibility manifested by inhibition zone of 51 ± 0.19 mm towards B. cereus and 37 ± 0.17mm on S. aureus E. coli (34 ± 0.48).…”