Chemical Screening and Biological Activities of Extracts from Cistus munbyi Pomel

Background: Cistus munbyi Pomel is a well-known medicinal plant in Western Algeria for its several applications in medicine and food. This endemic species from North Africa is poorly studied among the genus of Cistus, which gives the opportunity to carry out original pharmacological studies to value this medicinal plant. Objective: To investigate the antioxidant and the antimicrobial activities of Cistus munbyi, an endemic medicinal plant from Algeria. Methods: The antioxidant properties of C. munbyi crudes extracts were evaluated using the DPPH radical-scavenging activity tests. While their antimicrobial activity was studied by the agar diffusion method and MICs determination against eighteen bacterial and fungal strains, some of which were clinical. Results: The obtained results showed that aqueous and ethanol extracts possess a strong scavenging activity against DPPH radicals with EC50 values estimated at 1.12 and 8.31 μg/mL, respectively. On the other hand, extracts from C. munbyi revealed homogeneous and good antimicrobial activity, in which the inhibition zone diameters observed were ranging from 08 to 19 mm, and the MICs values were included from 0.312 to 5.000 mg/mL. The aqueous extract was less active except against Proteus mirabilis and Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that C. munbyipossesses a strong antioxidant activity and an interesting antimicrobial potential, which allows justifying its uses by the local population in several applications. Therefore, C. munbyi could be a good source of natural antioxidants and antimicrobial agents.