Lawsonia inermis L. leaves aqueous extract as a natural antioxidant and antibacterial product.

This study was carried out to investigate the biomedicinal potential of aqueous extract (1.25 and 2.5%) of three henna ecotypes (Shahdad, Roodbar and Bam) against Two types of Gram positive and negative bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Streptococcus agalactiae (ATCC 29933), Bacillus cereus (ATCC 14579), Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (ATCC 19410), Klebsiella pneumonia (ATCC 700603), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and Salmonella enterica serovar typhi (ATCC 19430). Henna extract prevent the growth of bacteria in a dose dependent manner. The species of K. pneumonia and B. cereus showed higher resistant to henna aqueous extract compared with other bacteria species. Leaves aqueous extract of Shahdad ecotype had the highest antioxidant activity compared with those of the other ecotypes. The highest amount of 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone as an antibacterial compound was obtained in Bam ecotype. The results also implies that other phytochemical compounds may have contributed in antibacterial and antioxidant activity of henna and thus further study needs to be done to explore them.