Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 1;10(4):676.
doi: 10.3390/plants10040676.

Phytochemical Screening, Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Pollen Extracts from Micromeria fruticosa, Achillea fragrantissima, and Phoenix dactylifera

Omar Sadeq  1 , Hamza Mechchate  2 , Imane Es-Safi  2 , Mohamed Bouhrim  3 , Fatima Zahra Jawhari  2 , Hayat Ouassou  3 , Loubna Kharchoufa  3 , Mashail N AlZain  4 , Nurah M Alzamel  5 , Omkulthom Mohamed Al Kamaly  6 , Abdelhakim Bouyahya  7 , Amina Benoutman  8 , Hamada Imtara  9
Affiliations

Phytochemical Screening, Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Pollen Extracts from Micromeria fruticosa, Achillea fragrantissima, and Phoenix dactylifera

Omar Sadeq et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Pollen is a male flower gametophyte located in the anthers of stamens in angiosperms and a considerable source of compounds with health protective potential. In the present work, phytochemical screening was carried out as well as analysis of the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of pollen extracts from Micromeria fruticosa, Achillea fragrantissima, and Phoenix dactylifera growing wild in Palestine. Phytochemical screening examined the total flavonol, flavone and phenolic content. The DPPH (1,2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl) and FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) methods were used to assess antioxidant propriety, and disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentration tests were used to test the pollen extract's antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant (MDR) clinical isolates. The highest level of total phenolic was found in the extract of Micromeria fruticosa (56.78 ± 0.49 mg GAE (Gallic Acid Equivalent)/g). The flavone and flavonol content of samples ranged from 2.48 ± 0.05 to 8.03 ± 0.01 mg QE (Quercetin Equivalent)/g. Micromeria fruticosa pollen with IC50 values of 0.047 and 0.039 mg/mL in the DPPH and FRAP assays, respectively, showed the greatest radical scavenging action. In addition, this pollen showed a mild antibacterial action against the microorganisms studied, with MICs varying from 0.625 to 10 mg/mL and inhibition diameters ranging from 13.66 ± 1.5 to 16.33 ± 1.5 mm.

Keywords: Achillea fragrantissima; Micromeria fruticosa; Phoenix dactylifera; antibacterial; antioxidant; pollen; pollen extraction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Total phenolic, flavone and flavonol content of pollen extracts of selected species from Palestine. (a): Total phenolic; (b): flavone and flavonol content. a p < 0.05 as comapred to pollen extract of Micromeria fruticosa in the same column; b p < 0.05 as compared to to pollen extract of Achillea fragrantissima in the same column.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Antioxidant activities of pollen extracts of selected species from Palestine. (a) The DPPH radical-scavenging assay; (b) the reducing power assay (FRAP). M. fruticosa: Micromeria fruticosa; A. fragrantissima: Achillea fragrantissima; P. dactylifera: Phoenix dactylifera; BHT: Butylated hydroxytoluene.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Diameters of the inhibition zones (mm) produced by pollen extracts in an AWD test against Gram positive and negative strains.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Heat map illustrating the correlation between flavone, flavonol and total phenolic and content with the assessed antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a): Micromeria fruticosa (L.); (b): Achillea fragrantissima (Forssk.); (c): Phoenix dactylifera (L.).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Anand U., Jacobo-Herrera N.J., Altemimi A.B., Lakhssassi N. A Comprehensive Review on Medicinal Plants as Antimicrobial Therapeutics: Potential Avenues of Biocompatible Drug Discovery. Metabolites. 2019;9:258. doi: 10.3390/metabo9110258. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Es-Safi I., Mechchate H., Amaghnouje A., El Moussaoui A., Cerruti P., Avella M., Grafov A., Bousta D. Marketing and legal status of phytomedicines and food supplements in Morocco. J. Complement. Integr. Med. 2020 doi: 10.1515/jcim-2020-0168. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Amaral R., dos Santos S.A., Andrade L.N., Severino P., Carvalho A.A. Natural Products as Treatment against Cancer: A Historical and Current Vision. Clin. Oncol. 2019;4:1562.
    1. Hall W. Superbugs: An Arms Race against Bacteria. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, MA, USA: 2018.
    1. Yelin I., Kishony R. Antibiotic Resistance. Cell. 2018;172:1136–1136.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.02.018. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources