Cuscuta reflexa and Carthamus Oxyacantha: potent sources of alternative and complimentary drug.

The present study was designed to evaluate the biological potential of Cuscuta reflexa and Carthamus oxyacantha. The ethanolic crude extract (C. reflexa; 9.1% and C. oxyacantha; 10.4%) was partitioned with different solvents at pH 3.0, 9.0 and 7.0. Phytochemical study showed that n-hexane fractions were rich source of terpenoids and ethyl acetate fractions were phenolic in nature while chloroform fractions contained alkaloidal skeleton. Total phenols were calculated with FC method and ranged 3.5 to 71.4 mg GAE/100 g DW. Antioxidant (DPPH & FRAP), enzyme inhibition potential (Protease & AChE) and antimicrobial activities were examined by the standard protocols. It was observed that about all extracts exhibited significant DPPH activity range (IC50 09 ± 0.5 to 62 ± 1.2 μg/ml). The DPPH active extracts/fractions also showed remarkable reducing potential. A strong correlation has been found between phenolics and antioxidant activities. Antimicrobial assay that was performed against four microbes and results revealed that FMC-6 and FMP-8 were active against all the tested microbes, while FMP-2 was inactive. Eight extracts/fractions of these plants expressed more than 50% inhibition of the targeted enzymes.