Phytochemical profile, antioxidant and antibacterial activity of four Hypericum species from the UK

Abstract

Treatment of skin wounds is an important domain in biomedical research since many pathogenic bacteria can invade the damaged tissues causing serious infections. Effective treatments are required under such conditions to inhibit microbial growth. Plants are traditionally used for the treatment of skin infections due to their antimicrobial potential. The antibacterial activity of different solvent extracts of four Hypericum species (H. androsaemum, H. ericoides, H. x moserianum and H. olympicum) traditionally acclaimed for their wound healing activity was examined in the present study against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter aerogenes. In addition the content and types of flavonoids [High PerformanceLiquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis], and antioxidant activity [1,1-diphenyl-2-picryIhydrazyl (DPPH) assay] were evaluated for all the species. The most prominent antibacterial activity was displayed by H. olympicum (MIC between 0.001 -0.1 mg/mL) in particular ethyl acetate and nbutanol fractions which were found to be rich in phenolic and flavonoid contents. Strong antioxidant activity was observed for all the species and was associated with the more polar methanol, ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts, with IC50 values ranging between 0.093 to 0.3 mg/mL. HPLC analysis of the extracts indicated the presence of different flavonoids in the plants and the highest content of selected flavonoids was determined for H. olympicum. The antibacterial activity of the selected Hypericum species shown in this study supports the traditional role of using these species for wound healing.

Unravelling Phytochemical and Bioactive Potential of Three Hypericum Species from Romanian Spontaneous Flora: H. alpigenum, H. perforatum and H. rochelii

“…In addition to well-established pharmacological properties (i.e., antidepressant, antioxidant, etc. ), some Hypericum species were cited as possessing antibacterial and/or antifungal activity, proven by in vitro methods [ 22 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. In this regard, we aimed to conduct a comparative evaluation of the antimicrobial potential of the extracts obtained from H. perforatum , H. alpigenum and H. rochelii , highlighting the main differences between this species in terms of antibacterial and antifungal effectiveness.…”

Antioxidant activity and phenolic acid constituents of two andean Hypericum L. species from Colombia

“…The results obtained in the TPC assay agree with the data reported earlier (16), who described high polyphenol content (100.37 mg GAE/g plant dry material) in H. juniperinum. Moreover, in studies with different Hypericum species, the ethyl acetate extract showed the highest content of phenolic compounds, while the hexane and chloroform fractions were relatively poor in this kind of compounds (20). Studies on other Hypericum species showed that less polar solvents than water tend to perform better scavenging activity on DPPH and ABTS assays.…”

“…The antioxidant capacity of a huge spectrum of other Hypericum species, mainly from Europe, have been studied. H. androsaemum, H. ericoides, H. moserianum, H. olympicum and H. triquetrifolium have been evaluated for TPC, flavonoid content and radical scavenging activity (20). Taking into account that H. juniperinum and H. mexicanum belong to the same genus of H. perforatum, the extracts obtained are expected to contain metabolites with considerable antioxidant properties (21).…”

Constituents of Chamaecrista diphylla (L.) Greene Leaves with Potent Antioxidant Capacity: A Feature-Based Molecular Network Dereplication Approach

“…Prospecting for plants that are rich in phenolic compounds is supported by studies highlighting the strong correlation between phenolic content and antioxidant capacity [ 64 ]. Furthermore, compounds exhibiting an antioxidant capacity tend to present other activities, such as anti-diabetic [ 65 ], anti-inflammatory [ 66 ], antibacterial [ 67 , 68 , 69 ] and antiproliferative activities [ 70 ]. Determining the antioxidant capacity by means of the ORAC assay is one of the best methods currently used [ 71 , 72 ].…”