Selective Biological Activities and Phytochemical Profiling of Two Wild Plant Species, Teucrium Polium and Capsicum Annum from Sheringal, Pakistan

In this study, various extracts (hexane, acetone, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and ethanol) of two medicinally important wild plant species, Teucrium polium and Capsicum annum were investigated for their antioxidant and antimicrobial potential. The ethanol extracts of T. polium and C. annum showed maximum inhibition at IC50 values of 135 +/- 1.09 and 70 +/- 0.08 respectively in 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assay. Interestingly, in (2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) assay, the ethyl acetate extract of T. polium showed potent antioxidant effect with IC50 value of 125 +/- 0.32, while the ethanol extract of C. annum exhibited IC50 value of 140 +/- 1.15. Ethanol extract of T. polium was active in inhibition of Escherichia coli up to 73 % as well as effective against fungi, Aspergilus flavus with 70 % inhibition in antifungal assay. In case of C. annum, ethyl acetate extract was potent in inhibiting Bacillus subtilis (73 %) while ethanol extract effectively inhibited the linear growth of A. flavus and T. longifusus by 77 and 70 % respectively. These interesting results may be attributed to the presence of flavonoids and terpenoids in T. polium, while saponins and phlobatannins were the main constituents in C. annum.