The present study was conducted to examine the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of essential oil, methanol and ethanol extracts of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) seeds native to Pakistan. The seed essential oil and extract yields from fennel seeds were found to be 2.81 and 6.21–15.63% w/w, respectively. GC and GC–MS analysis of the fennel essential oil revealed the presence of 23 compounds, with trans‐anethol (69.87%), fenchone (10.23%), estragole (5.45%) and limonene (5.10%) as the major components. The fennel seed extracts contained appreciable levels of total phenolic contents (627.21–967.50 GAE, mg/100 g) and total flavonoid contents (374.88–681.96 CE, mg/100 g). Fennel essential oil and extracts also exhibited good DPPH radical scavenging activity, showing IC₅₀ 32.32 and 23.61–26.75 µg/ml, and inhibition of peroxidation 45.05 and 48.80–70.35%, respectively. Of the fennel essential oil and solvent extracts tested, 80% ethanol extract exhibited the maximum antioxidant activity, whereas the essential oil showed appreciable antimicrobial activity against selected strains of bacteria and pathogenic fungi. The results of the present investigation demonstrated significant (p < 0.05) variations in the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of fennel essential oil and extracts. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The aim of this work was to investigate and compare the antiproliferative, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil, native to Pakistan. The essential oil content from the leaves of R. officinalis was 0.93 g 100g-1. The GC and GC-MS analysis revealed that the major components determined in R. officinalis essential oil were 1,8-cineol (38.5%), camphor (17.1%), α-pinene (12.3%), limonene (6.23%), camphene (6.00%) and linalool (5.70%). The antiproliferative activity was tested against two cancer (MCF-7 and LNCaP) and one fibroblast cell line (NIH-3T3) using the MTT assay, while, the antioxidant activity was evaluated by the reduction of 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) and measuring percent inhibition of peroxidation in linoleic acid system. The disc diffusion and modified resazurin microtitre-plate assays were used to evaluate the inhibition zones (IZ) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of R. officinalis essential oil, respectively. It is concluded from the results that Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil exhibited antiproliferative, antioxidant and antibacterial activities

The antioxidant potential of 100% and 80% methanol extracts from the seeds of three barley varieties (Jou 83, Jou 87 and Haider 93) was assessed. The extract yields from barley seeds ranged from 3.23% (Haider 93,100% methanol) to 5.31% (Jou 83, 80% methanol). The total phenolic contents, DPPH radical scavenging activity (IC50 values) and inhibition of linoleic acid oxidation of barley seed extracts (BSE) were determined to be 88.1-145.7 mg/100g, 90.8-168.6 μg/mL and 62.6-74.6%, respectively. The antioxidant effectiveness of BSE was also assessed by stabilizing sunflower oil (SFO) with BSE at a concentration of 600 ppm (oil weight basis). The stabilized (treated with extract) and the control (without extract addition) SFO samples were subjected to accelerated (oven heating at 60ºC for 30 days, 8 h heating cycle/day) storage. These were analyzed at regular intervals for the extent of oxidative changes according to the measurements of their contents of peroxide value, para-anisidine value, conjugated dienes and conjugated trienes. Generally, the 80% methanol extract of barely seeds demonstrated better antioxidant action than the 100% methanol extract. The antioxidant activity of BSE was also found to be considerably varied among the varieties tested. The present results suggest that antioxidant extracts from barely seeds might be used to protect vegetable oils from oxidation.