ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF PORTULACA OLERACEA L. GROWN WILD IN TURKEY

The in vitro antioxidant and antibacterial activities of methanol extracts from leaves of wild purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) from Turkey were investigated. The plant extracts were screened for possible antioxidant activity by using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and beta-carotene-linoleic acid assays. The MeOH extracts exhibited high levels of free radical scavenging activity (IC50=54.33 +/- 1.26 mu g/mL). The purslane leaves also showed high antioxidant activity (91.15%) compared to synthetic antioxidants BHA (98.16%) and BHT (96.66%). Although the antioxidant activity of the leaf extracts was lower than the BHA and BHT, the difference was not statistically significant, P<0.05. The amount of total phenolics was 17.88 mu gGAE/mg DW. Total lipids in purslane leaves were 5.83%. Linolenic acid was the dominant fatty acid (56.33%) followed by linoleic (14.01%), palmitic (9.72%), oleic (8.83%), myristic (5.04%) and stearic (4.36%) acids. The methanol extracts from the leaves showed antibacterial activities against Bacillus subtilis. Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, Vibrio cholerae and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. None of the water extracts showed antibacterial activity against the microorganisms studied.