Biological activities of some endemic plants in Turkey

Two different bioassays (antibacterial and antitumor) were performed to evaluate the biological activities of 8 different Turkish endemic plants (Crocus abantensis T. Baytop & Mathew, Crocus ancyrensis (Herbert) Maw, Galanthus plicatus Bieb. subsp. byzantinus (Baker) D. A. Webb., Paronychia chionaea Boiss, Astragalus gymnolobus Fischer, Trifolium pannonicum Jacq. subsp. elongatum (Willd.) Zoh., Eryngium bithynicum Boiss and Convolvulus galaticus Rostan ex Choisy). For each plant, 3 different extracts (aqueous, methanol and ethanol) were prepared and totally 24 extracts were tested. The disc diffusion assay was used to screen for antibacterial activity. Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, Serratia marcescens, Proteus vulgaris, Enterobacter cloacae and Klebsiella pneumoniae which are Gram-negative bacteria, and Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus pyogenes which are Gram-positive bacteria were used. Best antibacterial activity was observed with T. pannonicum extracts. Ethanolic extract of T. pannonicum was better than aqueous and methanolic extracts against S. aureus, S. epidermidis, S. pyogenes, P. vulgaris and K. pneumonia. Antitumor activity was evaluated with potato disc diffusion bioassay. Best antitumor activity was observed with all extracts of G. plicatus. Generally, alcoholic extracts showed better antitumor activity than aqueous extracts. Alcoholic extracts of C. abantensis, C. ancyrensis, P. chionae and C. galaticus also exhibited strong antitumor activity.