Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of Hydroalcoholic and Phenolic Extracts from and Leaves.

Traditional Mexican medicine commonly uses infusions of spp. to treat insomnia, injuries, and infections. The antibacterial activities of and were evaluated for the first time against a panel of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria that have implications for human health, including , , , , , and . Furthermore, the scavenging potential of the hydroalcoholic (HAEs) and total phenolic extracts (TPEs) from the leaves of both plants by a 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) assay (ABTS) was determined. Also, the total phenolic contents of the HAEs using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent were assayed. HAE and TPE were active against all bacterial strains tested, with a minimum inhibitory concentration between 1.0 and 6.0 mg/mL, with the last one being the most active. However, the extracts only demonstrated effectiveness against and . The TPEs from and improved the activity by approximately 30% in all bacteria tested in comparison with the HAEs. The HAE had a higher total phenolic content than the extract, which was consistent with its ABTS-scavenging activity. The two HAEs had different chemical profiles, mostly because of the types and amounts of phenolic compounds they contained. These profiles were obtained using thin-layer chromatography (TLC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR) experiments.