Investigation of the Phytoconstituents and Bioactivity of Various Parts of Wild Type and Cultivated <i>Phyllanthus emblica</i> L.

Abstract

Phyllanthus emblica L. belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae is a common medicinal plant in Bangladesh. In order to evaluate the phytoconstituents and bioactivity of various parts of P. emblica , both the wild type ( i.e. , small) and cultivated ( i.e. , big) fruits were collected from the local market of Bangladesh and six ethanolic extracts were prepared from various parts of the collected fruits for this current study. A comparative analysis of the phytochemical compositions and various bioactivities especially antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant activity of the six ethanolic extracts were accomplished. The qualitative phytochemical analysis of plant extracts revealed the presence of large amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, phenolic compounds, glycosides, alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, tannins, saponins and resins etc. The maximum antioxidant activity was observed for wild type P. emblica seed extracts and the minimum activity was observed for cultivated flesh extracts. Moreover, among the samples the wild type P. emblica extracts have excellent amount of total phenol contents and the highest free radical scavenging activity. It is also found that P. emblica samples were active against both gram-positive ( i.e. , B. subtilis ) and gram-negative ( i.e. , E. coli , and S. typhi ) bacteria. The highest antibacterial activity was achieved in the wild type P. emblica seed extracts against both pathogenic ( S. typhi ) and non-pathogenic bacterial strains ( E. coli , and B. subtilis ). These samples showed almost no activity against Fusarium sp. fungus.