Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate various biological activities (antimicrobial, anti-Giardial, antimalarial, antitumor, and antioxidant) as well as the phytochemistry of the root, stem, leaves, flowers and fruit of Ludwigia erecta L. The extracts of different plant parts showed variable activity against the tested microorganisms, with the highest activity (p < 0.05) obtained from the flower chloroform: methanol extract against E. coli (17.7 ± 2.2 mm). The strongest anti-Giardial activity was that of the root extract with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration IC
50
value of 41.60 ± 01 μg/mL (p < 0.05). None of the extracts was cytotoxic to Vero cell line (IC
50
> 100 µg/mL), whereas the flower extract showed a cytotoxic effect against the MDA-MB231 cell lines, with an IC
50
value of 30.5 ± 2.9 µg/mL. Furthermore, the highest antioxidant activity (p < 0.05) was shown by the fruits extract with IC
50
50 µg/mL, whereas the same antioxidant capacity was shown by the stem, leaf, and flowers extracts with IC
50
75 µg/mL. The phytochemical screening of extracts revealed the presence of flavonoids, sterols, tannins, triterpenes and saponins. The total polyphenolic contents, calculated as gallic acid equivalents (mg/L), ranged from 3428.21 ± 12.53 to 3671.50 ± 11.25 mg GAE/L, and the concentration of flavonoids, calculated as quercetin equivalents (mg/L), ranged from 1501.76 ± 16.99 to 3928 ± 219.81 QE mg/L, whereas the tannin content was calculated as the tannic acid equivalent (mg/L) with a value ranging between 9.55 ± 0.11 and 48.66 ± 2.14 TAE mg/L.