Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of ethanol fruit extract of Cherry Plum - Prunus cerasifera Ehrh.

Foods that have disease-preventing potential are designated as functional foods. Functional foods are foods that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. A large number of antioxidants, both nutritive and nonnutritive, occur in foods. The potency of antioxidants present in foods in vivo will depend not only on their levels in the foods but also on their bioavailability, that is, the extent to which the active forms of antioxidants are released from the food and absorbed through the gut. Most of phytochemicals, components of food, beverages, and herbal products are often reported in literature as “nutraceutical”, emphasizing their health promoting properties, including the prevention and treatment of pathologies like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neural disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease. Phytochemicals are virtually present in all the fruits, vegetables, pulses/legumes and grains which are commonly consumed, so it is quite easy to incorporate them in our daily diet. Current research studies were carried out for evaluating the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of ripe fruits of ethanol extract of Prunus cerasifera. Antioxidant activities such as DPPH˙ radical, Superoxide (O2.-) radical, ABTS●+ radical cation, phosphomolybdenum reduction and Fe3+ reduction were carried out for ripe fruits of ethanol extract of Prunus cerasifera. The maximum DPPH˙ radical and Superoxide (O2.-) radical scavenging activities were 82.11±0.42% and 46.26±0.28% at 120 µg/mL concentration and the IC50 values were 45.40 µg/mL and 129.70 µg/mL concentrations respectively. The maximum ABTS●+ radical cation scavenging activity was 88.64±0.43% at 30 µg/mL concentration and the IC50 value was 10.09 µg/mL concentration respectively. The maximum Mo6+ reduction and Fe3+ reduction were 86.29±0.29% and 79.82±0.20% at 120 µg/mL concentration and the RC50 values were 20.45 µg/mL and 24.21 µg/mL concentrations respectively. The antibacterial activity of ripe fruits of ethanol extract of Prunus cerasifera showed maximum zone of inhibition of 20 mm for Bacillus subtilis at 500 µg/mL concentration. Keywords: Antioxidant, Superoxide (O2.-) radical, ABTS●+ radical cation, Fe3+ reduction and phenolic compounds.