Abstract

PABON BAQUERO, Ludy C et al. Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of leaf extracts from four agroforestry species located in Colombian Orinoquia. Rev Cubana Plant Med [online]. 2013, vol.18, n.1, pp. 57-70. ISSN 1028-4796.

Introduction: the agroforestry species are important sources of useful secondary metabolites for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and veterinary medicine. Those countries with high biodiversity like Colombia are looking to expand the biological, chemical and economic knowledge about plant species with potential uses. Objective: to determine the antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of leaf extracts of Jatropha curcas L. and three varieties of Hibiscus cannabinus L. (Tainung, Everglades and Whitten). Methods: the leaves were collected in Restrepo (Meta) and subjected to Soxhlet and microwave extraction processes with different polarity solvents such as petroleum ether, dichloromethane and ethanol (EP, CH₂Cl₂ and EtOH). The antibacterial activity was established by agar diffusion method against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus strains, whereas antioxidant activity was determined by the autobiographical method using developing agents 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and ß-carotene. Results: in accordance with the extraction percentages found, most of the compounds present in these species had high polarity. The extracts with the highest antioxidant activity were those of Hibiscus cannabinus varieties, particularly low and high polarity extracts obtained by the Soxhlet method. The 20 % of total extracts showed a positive response against the two strains, being the extracts obtained by the microwave method more selective for Escherichia coli strains. Conclusion: this paper is a contribution to the development of bio-directed research to identify the active principles for the development of antibiotics and natural antioxidants from agroforestry wastes.

Keywords : Jatropha curcas; Hibiscus cannabinus; antimicrobial and antioxidant activity.

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