Abstract

The antibacterial and antioxidative activities of the methanol extract of Artemisia anomala S. Moore were investigated. The methanol extract was subjected to screening for their possible antioxidative activities by using 2, 2’-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene bleaching methods. In the former case, the methanol extract was found to have better antioxidative activity than synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) with IC₅₀ value of 16.8 and 19.4 µg/ml, respectively. The extract seemed to inhibit the oxidation of linoleic acid with an 89% inhibition in the latter case. The methanol extract from A. anomala had great antibacterial activity against all five test bacteria and most activity against Gram-negative ones. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Proteus vulgaris, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi were 1.5, 4.5, 3.9 mg/ml, respectively.

Key words: Artemisia anomala, antioxidative activity, antibacterial activity, methanol extract.