ASSESSMENT OF ANTI-OXIDANT, ANTI-BACTERIAL AND ANTI-ULCER ACTIVITIES OF CALENDULA ARVENSIS LEAVES

Medicinal plants which act as therapeutic agents are also a good source of information for a wide variety of phytochemical constituents which can be developed as drugs with precise and good selectivity. Calendula arvensis is an interesting medicinal plant and it is also known as “Aljemrah” in Morocco. It is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name ‘field marigold’. It is the important medicinal plant shows various bioactivities. The aim of the present research work is to screen the anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-ulcer and phytochemical activities of an ethanolic extract of Calendula arvensis leaves. The extract was screened for anti-oxidant activity using reducing power assay, total phenolic and total flavonoid content. The total phenolic and total flavonoid contents were found to be 47.01±1.5 and 62.16±9.7 respectively. In the reducing power assay [RPA] the extract showed significantly reduce in the absorbance to 0.892 at concentration of 250mg as compared to 1.996 with standard Gallic acid. Anti-bacterial activity of Calendula arvensis ethanolic extract were investigated against B. cereus, S. aureus, E. coli, P. aeruginosa using agar disc diffusion technique. The ethanolic extract of Calendula arvensis were potentially effective with variable efficiency against the tested bacterial strains at concentration of 10 mg with standard gentamycin. In acid neutralizing capacity the extract significantly reduced the acid neutralizing capacity to 5.3 at concentration of 1000mg is compared to 35.7 with standard aluminium hydroxide + magnesium hydroxide (500mg). The study reveals that ethanolic extract of Calendula arvensis possess considerable number of phenols, flavonoids, bacterial and antacid capacity. Further, this investigation will be helpful to identify the plant and also provide valuable information to the researchers to establish the pharmacological activities supported with possible mode of action.

Key words:  Calendula arvensis, anti-oxidant activity, anti-bacterial activity, anti-ulcer activity.