Antimicrobial, antioxidant and antimutagenic properties of Iris albicans

Abstract

This study investigated the antimicrobial, antioxidant and antimutagenic properties of ethanolic extracts of the aerial parts and rhizomes of Iris albicans Lange. While previous studies have examined the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of!. albi cans, to our knowledge, this is the first study to report on the antimutagenic activity of this plant. Both aerial part and rhizome extracts exhibited limited antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtills ATCC 6633. IC50 values for the radical scavenging activity of the extracts were 8.8 and 11.1 mg/ml, respectively. Total antioxidant activity of the extracts (at 3.15 mg/ml) was 96.6 +/- 0.07% and 97.2 +/- 0.7%, respectively. Antimutagenity was assessed using the Ames Salmonella/microsome mutagenicity test with the bacterial mutant strains Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100. Antimutagenic activity was observed for the aerial part extract at 0.3 and 3 mg/plate concentrations and for the rhizome extract at 0.015, 0.15, and 1.5 mg/plate concentrations. In sum, ethanolic extracts of I. albi cans were found to possess antioxidant and antimutagenic properties that could have potential value in the field of medicine and industry; however, only limited antimicrobial activity was observed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.