Comparison of Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties for Ginkgo biloba and Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) from Egypt

<p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The widespread use of medicinal plants for health purposes has increased dramatically due to their great importance to the public health. In this study levels of phenolic, flavonoid contents of </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Ginkgo biloba </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">and </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Rosmarinus officinalis </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">from Egypt were determined. HPLC was used to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds in selected plants. The plant extracts were evaluated for their antioxidant activities using various antioxidant methodologies, (i) scavenging of free radicals using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, (ii) metal ion chelating capacity, and (iii) scavenging of superoxide anion radical. The antimicrobial activity of both plant’s extracts were evaluated against a panel of microorganisms by using agar disc diffusion method. The total phenolic content (75.30 and 98.31 mg/g dry weight in </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">G. biloba </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">and </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">R. officinalis</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">, respectively) was significantly (</span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">p</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><0.05) different. Among the identified phenolic compounds, quercetin, kaempferol and caffeic acid were the predominant phenolic compounds in </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Ginkgo biloba</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">, whereas carnosic acid, rosmarinic acid, narinigen and hispidulin were the predominant phenolic compound in </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Rosmarinus officinalis </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">leaves. The antioxidant activity increased with the concentration increase. The </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">R. officinalis </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">was more active than </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">G. biloba </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">extract against Gram-negative bacteria. This study reveals that the consumption of these plants would exert several beneficial effects by virtue of their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.</span></p>