Abstract:
Medicinal plants have been of great importance in therapeutics since ages. They contain some
compounds called polyphenols in a significant amount and these polyphenols possess certain
therapeutic activities. The focus of this research was to evaluate the polyphenolic activities of
most commonly used medicinal plant in Pakistan. Tea is one of most commonly used beverage
in Pakistan. It can be Ginger, Green or Black tea. Potential polyphenols and their activity was
evaluated first using in silico analysis. The results found were then cross checked using wet lab
approaches. Biological activities including anticancer, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities
were evaluated. Extracts were made using two methods i.e. Maceration and soxhlet extraction, to
compare the activity of extracts. Cell line used for anticancer evaluation was HuH-7. Bacterial
strains used were clinical isolates including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
and multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhi and
Shigella sonnei. Antioxidant activity was assessed using Hydrogen peroxide assay. The results
obtained showed that extracts from Zingiber officinale and Camellia sinensis exhibit strong
anticancer, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Comparatively, extracts taken from
Maceration were more efficient than the ones taken from Soxhlet Extraction. Moreover, aqueous
extracts of green tea were the most active of them all. These results suggested that polyphenols
from Z. officinale and C. sinensis are potential drug candidates and they can be efficiently used
in therapeutics.
