Ecotype Difference in Bioactive Constituents and In vitro Antioxidant Activities of Some Saudi Medicinal Plants

The bioactive phyto constituents of endemic and acclimated plants have been used for the bioprospecting of novel compounds, throughout the world. However, the constituents of bioactive phytochemicals and the antioxidant activity are influenced to a great extent by several variables such as altitude, sunlight, soils, season and region of cultivation. We collected Retama raetam Salsola inermis, Hyoscyamus albus and Fagonia arabica plants from two different regions; Jabal-al-Lawaz (JAE) and Wadi-e-Dissa (WDE) of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Phytochemical analysis of Methanolic leaf extracts of all the plants revealed the existence of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins and carbohydrates. All the screened phytochemicals were higher in content in the JAE plants than WDE, except flavonoids in S. inermis (WDE). Results validate that these plants from Jabal-al-Lawz have considerable amount of bioactive constituents. Methanolic extracts of H. albus exhibited maximum DPPH antiradical, nitric oxide scavenging and metal chelating activities; however H2O2 scavenging activity was highest in R. raetam. It is concluded that the plants collected from Jabal-al-Lawz are rich sources of bioactive phytochemicals and antioxidants and they could be used in the treatment of oxidative-stress induced degenerative diseases and disorders.