Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol. 6(2), pp. 336-338, 16 January, 2012 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JMPR DOI: 10.5897/JMPR11.253 ISSN 1996-0875 ©2012 Academic Journals Short Communication Preliminary phytochemical screening and evaluation of the antibacterial and mutagenic activity of Rhynchocorys elephas (L.) Griseb Mojdeh Hakemi Vala 1 , Jinous Asgarpanah 2 * , Mona Akbari 3 , Fatemeh Bagheri Bejestani 4 and Hossein Jamalifar 5 1 Microbiology Department, Medical School, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2 Department of Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutical, Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University (IAU), Tehran, Iran. 3 Young Researchers Club (YRC), Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University (IAUPS), Tehran, Iran. 4 Microbiology Department, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University (IAU), Tehran, Iran. 5 Department of Drug and Food Control, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Accepted 6 December, 2011 Traditional medicine has a key role in health care worldwide. Obtaining scientific information about the efficacy and safety of the plants is one of the researcher's goals. In this research, the flowering aerial parts of Rhynchocorys elephas (L.) Griseb (Scrophulariaceae) were collected from Siah Bisheh (Mazandaran, Iran) in May 2009. Extract was tested for its antibacterial activity using 3 Gram-positive bacteria strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus cereus) and 2 Gram- negative bacterial strains (Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi) by cup plate method. Its mutagenic activity was also investigated using Ames test on Salmonella typhi murium TA100. Here we report for the first time the activity of R. elephas against S. aureus (MIC =31.25 mg/ml), S. epidermidis (MIC = 31.25 mg/ml), B. cereus (Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) = 62.5 mg/ml), E. coli (MIC = 62.5 mg/ml) and S. typhi (MIC = 62.5 mg/ml). Furthermore the mutagenic potential of R. elephas using Ames test studied and no mutagenic effects was detected. The results of preliminary phytochemical study showed the presence of saponins, flavonoids and tannins in the methanolic extract of flowering aerial parts of this plant. Key words: Rhynchocorys elephas (L.) Griseb., scrophulariaceae, antibacterial effect, mutagenic activity. INTRODUCTION The genus Rhynchocorys (family Scrophulariaceae) comprises of 5 species which are naturalized in Europe and some parts of Asia. Two of these species grow wild in Iran. Rhynchocorys elephas (L.) Griseb. is one of the species which grow in north of Iran (Saeidi, 2006). There is no evidence of its traditional use in folk medicine. Since the literature survey revealed that there is no work on phytochemical and biological activities of R. elephas, we were prompted to investigate the antibacterial activity of methanolic extract of flowering aerial parts of the plant using the Cup Plate method and its mutagenic effects by *Corresponding author. E-mail: asgarpanah@iaups.ac.ir. Tel: 22640051. Fax: 22602059. using the Ames mutagenicity test. A preliminary phytochemical screening, using standard phytochemical reaction methods, was also done to determine the main active principles of R. elephas. MATERIALS AND METHODS Plant material The flowering aerial part of R. elephas (L.) Griseb was collected from Siah-Bisheh (Mazandaran, Iran) in May 2009 and identified by Dr. G H. Amin at the Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. A voucher specimen (NO. 178) has been deposited in the herbarium of the Department of Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Azad Islamic University (AIU), Tehran, Iran.