BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF SOME LICHENS OF HIMALAYAN REGION, PAKISTAN - A. Ullah; K. William; A. Rehman; S. W. Khan; Z. Iqbal (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2015)
Present study investigates the distribution, antibacterial, antioxidant, antitumor and cytotoxicity of the acetone and methanol extracts of ten lichen genera of Dermetacarpon, Peltigera, Flavopunctelia, Flavoparmelia, Lecanora, Cladonia, Caloplaca, Collema, Rhizocarpon, Usnea of Himalayan region (Mansehra) Pakistan. The bacterial strain used in this study was Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus bacillus, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis. The antibacterial activity of the lichen extract in both solvent was studied by Disc diffusion assay. The zone of inhibition of these lichen extracts were in range 7 to 12.7 mm in diameter. This study showed that S. bacillus is the most resistance and S. epidermidis is the most sensitive bacteria to the extract of all lichen genera. The antioxidant activity was investigated by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging. The acetone extract in concentration of 1000ug/ml of Collema showed strongest DPPH radical scavenging activity while other acetone extracts also showed positive results. However, Rhizocarpon showed the least DPPH radical scavenging activity. Cytotoxic activity of different concentration of lichen extract was tested against Brine shrimp, Artemia nauplii. Result of cytotoxicity indicated that both methanol and acetone extract of Flavopunctelia were potent against brine shrimp. In potato disc assay, most of the acetone and methanol extracts of lichens showed significant (inhibition≥20%) antitumor activity against Agrobacterium tumefacien. Similarly, both acetone and methanol extracts of Dermetocarpon showed maximum (40%) tumor inhibition while Collema showed minimum tumor inhibition (16.66%). Rankovic, 2010: Krystle et al., 2010) but lichens of
Keywords: journal article; Antibacterial activity; Antioxidant activity; Lichens; Himalayan region; Pakistan