Full Length Research Paper

Biological activities of Rumex dentatus L: Evaluation of methanol and hexane extracts

Nighat Fatima¹, Muhammad Zia¹*, Riaz-ur-Rehman¹, Zarrin Fatima Rizvi¹, Safia Ahmad³, Bushra Mirza² and M. Fayyaz Chaudhary¹

¹Department of Biotechnology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. ²Department of Biochemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

³Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad Pakistan.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: ziachaudhary@gmail.com.  Tel: +92-51-9064-3011.

Accepted 4 September, 2009

   Abstract

Rumex dentatus L. (Plygonaceae) extracts were evaluated for antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxic, antitumor and allopathic potential. The leaf, stem and root extracts were prepared in methanol and hexane by simple maceration. The methanol extracts of root and shoot were found effective against all the bacterial strains tested. Zone of inhibition ranged between 9.7 to 12.1 mm. While the hexane extracts inhibited fungal growth (up to 80%) more efficiently than the methanol extracts. Concentration of different the extracts of R. dentatus effectively inhibited tumor induction on the potato discs produced by wild type Agrobacterium strains At10 and At6. The root extracts either in methanol or hexane showed LD₅₀ values below 1000 ppm in brine shrimp mortality assay. The methanol extracts of leaf and stem inhibited radish seed germination (70 and 61% respectively) and root length more than the hexane extracts. The R. dentatus methanol extract showed presence of alkaloids, saponins, anthraquinones and tannins while flavonoids were also found in both methanol as well as hexane extract.

Key words: Antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor, allelopathic, cytotoxic, Rumex detatus.