Phytochemical Screening, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Ficus natalensis

Phytochemical screening, antimicrobial and antioxidant potential of the bark and leaves extracts of Ficus natalensis were carried out by using various techniques. Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of terpenoids, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, cardiac glycosides and reducing sugars in different extracts of Ficus natalensis. The antibacterial potential against S. aureus was reported as most promising amongst all. The petroleum ether extract of leaves with a zone of inhibition 50 +/- 0.51 mm and bark extracts with a zone of inhibition 55.7 +/- 1.15 mm inhibited S. aureus. The chloroform leaves extract also showed an inhibition zone of 50 +/- 2 mm against S. aureus. The antifungal potential of methanol bark extract at 43.7 +/- 1.527 mm and petroleum ether extracts of bark with zones of inhibition 37 +/- 0.577 mm against A. niger showed most prominent activity. By using different assays, the extracts were screened for the antioxidant potential. The estimation of antioxidant activity by metal chelating activity revealed that water extract of leaves was most active with a value of 74.673 +/- 0.302 percentage bound iron. The chloroform extract of bark showed highest flavonoid content (1005.53 +/- 0.503 mg/mL of quercetin), whereas chloroform extract of leaves exhibited maximum phenolic content (21.626 +/- 0.545 mg/g of GAE). In ABTS assay, water extract of leaves showed maximum TEAC value (7.713 +/- 0.7 mM of trolox equivalent). The highest free radical scavenging DPPH percentage was observed with distilled water extract of bark (91.92 +/- 0.08 %).