Bibliographic review of the Ballota genus and evaluation of the DPPH free radical scavenging capacity of Ballota hirsuta's methanolic and aqueous extracts.

Abstract

Medicinal plants are significant in today's drug source. Most current medicinal drugs are prescribed by their subsidiaries. Ballota hirsuta benth is perennial shrub plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family growing in Algerian centre, and are being utilized as a part of the traditional medicinal system of our country. The aims of the present study were to review pharmacology activities, phytochemistry, traditional use, and offer therapeutic knowledge of Ballota genus and to evaluate antioxidant properties of this plant in essential oil, methanolic and aqueous extract forms. The aerial parts of the plant were subjected to hydrodistillation to have the essential oil (yield: 0.42%). The methanolic maceration aqueous decoction extractions yielded in 11± 0.62% and 13.52± 0.28% respectively. The free radical scavenging effect was evaluated using the free radical DPPH. The IC50 were 0.120 ± 0.027mg/ml and 0.124 ± 0.012 mg/ml for the methanolic and aqueous extract respectively.