Comparative study of <i>in vitro </i>antioxidant activity of foliar endophytic fungi and leaves extracts of <i>Peganum harmala</i> of Dayate aiat (Laghouat, Algeria)

Abstract

Endophytic fungi that reside in plant tissues are a potential source of secondary metabolites with biological activities. In our study, we investigated the detection of the antioxidant activity of the crude fungal extract of the genera Cladosporium, Alternaria, Aspergillus and Penicillium: endophytic fungi isolated from the leaves of Peganum harmala harvested in Laghouat and extract of these same leaves. The extraction of these metabolites was carried out using ethyl acetate. The antioxidant activity of the latter was carried out by the DPPH test. Our tests reveal that the extracts studied have a low antioxidant activity. The inhibitory concentrations show a higher antioxidant effect for the Penicillium extract compared to the other extracts studied. The antioxidant molecules are related to the content of polyphenols. Penicillium extract has the highest polyphenol content. Our results confirm that endophytic fungi are a potential and limited source of natural antioxidant compounds, in the same way as plants.

Key words: Leaf extract; Extracts of endophytic fungi; Antioxidant activity; Content of
polyphenols and Peganum harmala.