Investigation of Bioactive Compounds on Relict Endemic Ajuga relicta P. H. Davis (Lamiaceae) from Turkey

Species belonging to genus Ajuga (Lamiaceae) have been used to treat many diseases in traditional medicine. The plants of the genus  Ajuga  have been reported to have antifungal, antibacterial, antimycobacterial, antihypertensive, antiplasmodial, hypoglycaemic, and larvae and insect activity. Ajuga relicta is a relict endemic plant which grows only in Kahramanmaras. The total phenolic contents of the extracts have been quantified with Folin Ciocalteu colorimetric method, and the antioxidant activities of the extracts have been tested with DPPH, and FRAP. Antimicrobial activities of plant extracts were determined by the well-diffusion method against seven bacteria and four yeasts. Besides, the fatty acid composition was determined in GC-MS. As a result of GC-MS analysis of the oil obtained from the A. relicta extracts, 21 different fatty acids were identified. The highest contents of these fatty acids were palmitic acid (29.50%), oleic acid (23.51%), stearic acid (9.13%) and linoleic acid (7.18%). Total phenolic value of plant extract was 11.94 mg/g, total flavonoid amount 2.28 mg/g, FRAP value 43.53 μg/g and DPPH value 1.63 mg/g. Antimicrobial activity experiment on a total of 11 microorganisms (seven bacteria and four yeast) showed that Ajuga extracts inhibited the growth of tested microorganisms except Enterobacter cloacae, Candida glabrata and Saccharomyces cerevisiae . A. relicta was found to have high bioactive content and antimicrobial activity. The plant extracts are rich in constant fatty acids and similar to olive oil (palmitic-oleic-linoleic), which is well known for its health benefits in terms of major fatty acids.