The widespread use of medicinal plants for health purposes has increased dramatically due to their great importance to the public health. In this study levels of phenolic, flavonoid contents of Ginkgo biloba and Rosmarinus officinalis from Egypt were determined. HPLC was used to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds in selected plants. The plant extracts were evaluated for their antioxidant activities using various antioxidant methodologies, (i) scavenging of free radicals using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, (ii) metal ion chelating capacity, and (iii) scavenging of superoxide anion radical. The antimicrobial activity of both plants extracts were evaluated against a panel of microorganisms by using agar disc diffusion method. The total phenolic content (75.30 and 98.31 mg/g dry weight in G. biloba and R. officinalis, respectively) was significantly different. Among the identified phenolic compounds, quercetin, kaempferol and caffeic acid were the predominant phenolic compounds in Ginkgo biloba, whereas carnosic acid, rosmarinic acid, narinigen and hispidulin were the predominant phenolic compound in Rosmarinus officinalis leaves. The antioxidant activity increased with the concentration increase. The R. officinalis was more active than G. biloba extract against Gram-negative bacteria. This study reveals that the consumption of these plants would exert several beneficial effects by virtue of their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.
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