In vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of anthotaxy extracts from Dendranthema morifolium (Ramat.) Tzvel. and Chrysanthemum indicum L.

Dendranthema morifolium (Ramat.) Tzvel. and Chrysanthemum indicum L. are two traditional Chinese medicines, which were often obscure in prescriptions. In this study, the aqueous and ethanolic anthotaxy extracts from D. morifolium (Ramat.) Tzvel. and C. indicum L., were evaluated for their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Ethanolic extracts showed higher contents of both total phenolics and flavonoids than aqueous extracts. The total phenolics and flavonoids contents in both aqueous and ethanolic extracts were in the order of D. morifolium (Ramat.) Tzvel. > C. indicum L. Using 1,1-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays, the concentrations providing 50% inhibition (IC50) values of aqueous extracts from D. morifolium (Ramat.) Tzvel. and C. indicum L. were 2.26 and 2.93 mg/ml, respectively, whereas the IC50 values of ethanolic extracts were 0.38 and 1.34 mg/ml, respectively. In sum, the antioxidant activities of ethanolic extracts from both D. morifolium (Ramat.) Tzvel. and C. indicum L. were better than aqueous extracts, and in the order of D. morifolium (Ramat.) Tzvel. > C. indicum L. The ethanolic extracts exhibited moderate antimicrobial activities, whereas the aqueous extracts showed poor antimicrobial properties in our test system.