Phytochemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Extracts from Different Parts of Brocchia cinerea (Vis.)

Brocchia cinerea (Vis.) is an Asteraceae-family plant widely used in traditional medicine in Southeastern Morocco to treat several ailments. The aqueous extracts of flowers, leaves, stems and aerial parts of B. cinerea were subjected to a preliminary phytochemical screening test for various constituents. The polyphenols, flavonoids, and tannins contents were determined. Moreover, the antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH scavenging assay and ferric reduction antioxidant power.However, the antibacterial activity was evaluated against six pathogenic bacteria. Phytochemical screening of different parts of B. cinerea revealed alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, and terpenoids. The leaves extract showed the highest polyphenols concentration (27.15 +/- 0.92 mg GAE/g of Ext) and flavonoids (17.46 +/- 0.66 mg QE/g of Ext), while flowers extract was highest in tannin (9.57 +/- 1.24 mg TAE/g of Extract). All extracts of B. cinerea showed moderate to high antioxidant power, among which the leaves extract demonstrated the strongest antioxidant activity, with an IC50 value of 0.99 mg/mL and an optical density of 1.15. In the case of antibacterial activity screening, leaves extract showed the highest inhibition zone diameters ranging from 9 to 27 mm against the tested bacteria. The results demonstrate that the aqueous extracts of different parts of B. cinerea, especially the leaves, could be developed as pharmaceutical products.