Antibacterial, Antifungal, and Antioxidant Activity of Cleome coluteoides: An In Vitro Comparative Study Between Leaves, Stems, and Flowers.

Cleome coluteoides, which belongs to the Capparidaceae family, and has been used in folk medicine for a long time. Our research aims to measure the antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal activities of C. coluteoides. Various solvents, such as ethyl acetate, methanol, and dichloromethane, were used to extract different plant parts. Antibacterial and antifungal activities were assayed by disk and well diffusion methods, and the antioxidant activity was screened by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing ability of plasma methods. Results showed that Gram-negative bacteria and fungus were resistant to various plant extracts. Against all Gram-positive bacteria tested, C. coluteoides' flower extract had the highest inhibition effects. Also, the most sensitive bacterium was Bacillus cereus, which had an 18-mm inhibition zone. Due to the solvent's physical and chemical properties, different C. coluteoides extracts exhibited various antioxidant activities in the antioxidant activity assay. To some extent, methanol extract of leaves showed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity at various concentrations that ranged from 5 to 160 mg.mL-1. The methanol extract of flower was observed to have the highest level of phenolics among all tested extracts. This study demonstrates that different extracts from various C. coluteoides parts are different in their properties, therefore, a proper solvent should be used to extract maximum amounts of antioxidant and antibacterial components from a typical plant material.