BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION, AND IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF SALVIA FRUTICOSA, AN ETHNOMEDICINAL PLANT

. Salvia fruticosa (Anatolian sage) is a medicinal plant with a natural distribution in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean. It has ethnomedicinal uses in traditional medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the biochemical composition and in vitro antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of S. fruticosa . The in vitro antimicrobial activity of S. fruticosa ethanol extract (SFEt) by disk diffusion method against thirty-nine bacterial (including eleven multidrug-resistant strains) and two fungal strains was examined. The determination of antioxidant activity was carried out by the DPPH method. The identification of biochemical composition was by GC-MS. Twenty-three components were identified in SFEt and the main one was D-camphor (20.27%). SFEt has antimicrobial activity against a wide range of microorganisms tested. The highest activity has been demonstrated against Staphylococcus epidermidis DSMZ 20044 (ST12) as a Gram-positive bacteria with a 21 mm zone of inhibition and Proteus vulgaris (MDR6) as a Gram-negative bacteria with a 13 mm zone of inhibition. Also, the data from Streptococcus pneumonia (MDR7) was very striking because a higher activity has been observed than fourteen positive controls. SFEt showed antioxidant activity almost as high as Ascorbic acid. These results have shown that S. fruticosa has a high antimicrobial and antioxidant potential.