Phytochemical, Antioxidant, Antibacterial and Antifungal Investigations of Thuja orientalis Cone

Background of the Study: Thuja orientalis L. is an indigenous medicinal plant belonging to family Cupressaceae found in Darjeeling Himalayan region, Dooars and Tarai region of India. The plant cone has been used traditionally as medicine to treat various diseases, like bronchitis, bacterial skin infection, osteoarthritis, trigeminal neuralgia.

Aim: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the plant cone for phytochemical constinuents, and in vitro antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties.

Place and Duration of Study: All the experiments were done in the Department of Biotechnology, University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, West Bengal, 734013, India.

Methodology: Methanolic extract of T. orientalis cone was analyzed for phytochemicals by various biochemical methods. Antioxidant properties were analyzed by in vitro assays of DPPH, ABTS, NO and H2O2 scavenging. Antibacterial property was analyzed by agar well diffusion method and antifungal assay was monitored by radial growth bioassay.

Results: Methanolic extract of T. orientalis cone contained flavonoid, phenol, saponin, tannin, terpenoid and alkaloid. The extract showed significant in-vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activity.

Conclusions: The study revealed that T. orientalis cone has potential as source of antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal agents. Our further study is directed towards the isolation, and characterization of active compound from methanolic extract and evaluation of its potentiality against high blood sugar.