Phenolic Contents, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Potentials of Crithmum maritimum Cultivated in Tunisia Arid Zones

Abstract

Polyphenols are bioactive molecules exhibiting a lot of scientific attention due to their multiple biological activities. The present study aimed at assessing the phenolic content, antibacterial activity and antioxidant activity of the different organs of Crithmum maritimum (leaves, flowers, seeds and stems) cultivated in the south east of Tunisia. The analyzed organs exhibited different content of total polyphenol (17.11 ± 0.77 to 9.42 ± 0.24 mg GAE g ^-1 DW) flavonoids (7.06 ± 0.18to 3.71 ± 0.1 mg EC g ^–1 DW) and tannins (5.24 ± to 1.06 ± 0.77 mg CE g ^–1 DW). However, seeds extracts displayed the highest DPPH• scavenging ability with the lowest IC50 value (406 ± 11 μg/ml) and for antibacterial activity is showed that the diameter of the largest inhibition (13 mm) is recorded for the extrat from stems of C. maritimum vis à vis a gram negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginos. The smaller diameter of inhibition (6 mm) was recorded for extract from seeds against gram-positive bacteria: Staphyloccus epidermidis.

Key words:

• Crithmum maritimum
• Phenolic compounds
• Antioxidant activity
• antibacterial activity