Vol.6, No.1, 23-30 (2014) Natural Science http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ns.2014.61005 Biological activities of the hydro-alcoholic and aqueous extracts of Achillea fragrantissima (Forssk.) grown in Jordan Hana M. Hammad 1* , Suzan A. Matar 1 , Simona-Carmen Litescu 2 , Sawsan Abuhamdah 3 , Hala I. Al-Jaber 4 , Fatma U. Afifi 5 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; * Corresponding Author: hhammad@ju.edu.jo 2 Centre of Bioanalysis, National Institute for Biological Sciences, Bucharest, Romania 3 Department of Biopharmaceutics and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan 4 Department of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Al-Balqa Applied University, Amman, Jordan 5 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan Received 13 November 2013; revised 13 December 2013; accepted 20 December 2013 Copyright © 2014 Hana M. Hammad et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Li- cense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intel- lectual property Hana M. Hammad et al. All Copyright © 2014 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guardian. ABSTRACT Aqueous and hydro-alcoholic extracts of Achil- lea fragrantissima L. (Asteraceae) grown in Jor- dan were screened for their antioxidant, antimi- crobial, antiplatelet, anti-proliferative and ace- tylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition efficacy. To- tal phenols and flavonoids were determined co- lorimetrically. The radical scavenging activities were evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhy- drazyl (DPPH) and 2,2’-azino-bis-3-ethylbenz- thiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) radical sca- venging activity assays. High performance liq- uid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC- MS) analysis resulted in the identification of 7 phenolic compounds in the hydro-alcoholic ex- tract and 4 compounds in the aqueous extract; quercetin 3-β-D-glucoside was the main com- ponent for both extracts. Antimicrobial activities were determined by antimicrobial susceptibility testing such as agar well-diffusion method, mi- nimum inhibition concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration. Gram positive bacte- ria showed sensitivity to hydro-alcoholic extract in the agar-well diffusion test. No significant ac- tivity was observed against gram negative bac- teria and Candida albicans. Hydro-alcoholic ex- tract had a bactericidal activity against Strepto- coccus pneumoniae and Bacillus cereus at high concentrations (MIC 12.5 mg/ml) rather than in- hibitory effect. In vitro antiplatelet activity was tested on human whole blood using an electrical impedance method. At concentrations (50, 100, and 200 μg/ml), no effect on platelet aggregation was noticed. Anti-proliferative activity was in- vestigated using the MTT assay. At concentra- tions up to 200 μg/ml, extracts did not possess cytotoxic activity against the MCF-7 cells. Ace- tylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory capacity of A. fragrantissima extracts was tested using TLC assay method, and neither aqueous, nor hydro- alcoholic extracts showed AChE inhibition. The present investigation supported the traditional use of A. fragrantissima in the Jordanian folk medicine as an antimicrobial active representa- tive of the genus Achillea. A. fragrantissima ex- tracts should be further studied for their poten- tial use in preventing/treating diseases in which oxidative stress is a part of the pathophysiology. KEYWORDS Achillea fragrantissima; Asteraceae; Antioxidant Activity; Antiplatelet Activity; Cytotoxicity; Jordan 1. INTRODUCTION The genera Achillea (Family Asteraceae) with over 140 species are perennial herbs which are widely distri- Copyright © 2014 SciRes. OPEN ACCESS