Investigation of biological activity of Prunella vulgari̇s

Lamiaceae comprising of 220 genera around the world, among these 49 genera are naturally found in Turkey. In the present study, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal and DNA-protective activities of hexane, methanol and water extracts of the branch, leaf and flower parts of Prunella vulgaris belonging to Lamiaceae were investigated. Rel Assay Diagnostics kits (TAS, TOS) and DPPH assay were used to investigate the antioxidant activity of Prunella vulgaris, and disc diffusion assay was used to test for antibacterial and antifungal activities. pBR322 plasmid DNA and UV-C method were used to investigate the protective activity against DNA damage induced by exposure to UV-C. It was observed that the different extracts exhibit various antioxidant activities. Particularly water and methanol extracts were observed to be highly active when examined by TAS, TOS and DPPH assays. The highest antioxidant activity was found in the hexane extract of the branch of prunella vulgaris.In this study, Prunella vulgaris was shown to antibacterial and antifungal activities. However, in terms of the DNA protective activity, Prunella vulgaris parts showing the highest protective activity were found to be hexane extract of the leaf and water extract of the branch.