Abstract—Fractions of ethanolic extracts of three kinds of Myanmar herbal plants were used to screen for their antioxidant, anti-tumor and antimicrobial activities in this study. Free radical scavenging activities were showed with EC50 values and C. hirsutus showed the best activity among them. Moreover, not only C. hirsutus but also A. japonica showed potential anti-tumor activity at 100ppm dosage according to results from bioassay with carrot discs infected with Agrobacterium tumefaciens after three weeks incubation at 28±2°C. From the preliminary phytochemical and mineral analyses, the results showed absence of cyanogenic glycosides, lead (Pb) and arsenic (As) in these plants and these plants are potentially safe to use as drugs or as diets. Although all kinds of plants extracts showed no toxicity by using in vitro brine shrimp larvae lethal toxicity test, A. japonica was selected to do further experiments as it has highest LC50 value among these three plants. In in vivo toxicity test with mice model, there is no toxic of A. japonica extract to the mice up to 2500mg/kg/day dosage indicating its safety for mammals. According to antagonistic activities against nine different species of food borne and human pathogenic microorganisms by the agar-well diffusion method, the methanol fraction of crude extract of the leaves of A. japonica showed most significant on the food borne pathogenic bacteria Shigella boydii and a zone of inhibition of 34mm in diameter. Ethyl acetate fractions also showed best results against other pathogens. The MIC value was in the ranged from 0.625 to 5.0mg/ml and the MBC value was in the ranged from 0.625 to 10.0mg/ml for these tested microorganisms and this indicated the distinct growth inhibition and wider spectrum of their potential antimicrobial activity. Therefore, the research clearly indicates that these herbal plants of Myanmar’s dry farm land are potentially advantageous for human health as herbal drugs/ diets or as herbal food preservative.

Index Terms—Antimicrobial Activity, Antioxidant Activity, Antitumor Activity, DPPH Free Radical.

M. M. Mon is with the Department of Biotechnology, Mandalay Technological University, Myanmar (phone: 95-2-57008; Fax: 95-2 57361; e-mail: myatmyat21@gmail.com).
S. S. Maw is with the Department of Biotechnology, Mandalay Technological University, Myanmar (e-mail: masawsandarmaw@ gmail.com).
Z. K. Oo is with the Department of Biotechnology, Technological University (Taungu), Myanmar (e-mail: zawkineoo08@gmail.com).

Cite: M. M. Mon, S. S. Maw, and Z. K. Oo, "Screening of Antioxidant, Anti-tumor and Antimicrobial Herbal Drugs/Diets from Some Myanmar Traditional Herbs," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 142-147 , 2011.