Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of <i>Momordica charantia</i> from Turkey

Abstract

Momordica charantia L. has long been regarded as a food and medicinal plant. Although it is not a native plant in Turkey, it is frequently used in folk medicine, especially in west and southwest parts of Anatolia. In the present study, unripe/ripe seed and fruit ethanol extracts of M. charantia from Turkey were screened for their potential antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. The antimicrobial activities of the extract were determined against four gram positive bacteria, seven gram negative bacteria, and one yeast with disc diffusion and microdilution broth methods. The extracts were also tested in vitro against four different fish pathogens. The unripe fruit extract was the most active against the tested microorganisms in the study with higher inhibition zones and lower minimal bactericidal or fungicidal activities (MBC or MFC) than the other extracts. Antioxidant capacity of the extracts was investigated by different assay, namely, total antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging activity (DPPH assay), iron (III) and cupric ion reduction assay. The total phenolic content was only determined from ripe fruit and seed extracts as 23.45 and 9.36 mg GAE/g, respectively. The results show that the ripe fruit extract has the strongest antioxidant capacity compared with other extracts. The findings indicate the potential use of unripe fruit and ripe fruit extracts as biopreservatives as they demonstrated high antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, respectively.

Keywords: Fruit, seed, ethanol extract, food borne and clinical pathogens, fish pathogens

African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 12(13), pp. 1548-1558