Biologically active properties of the ethanol and aqueous extracts from the needles of Juniperus communis.

Abstract

The authors have tested different methods for preparing ethanol and aqueous extracts from the needles of the natural forms of the common juniper and researched some of their biologically active properties. They found 70% ethanol to be the best extractor of bioactive substances from the needles of the common juniper in contrast to 50% and 30% ethanol. They prove that the optimal way to obtain alcohol extracts is crushing the needles of the common juniper to linear sizes: 0.5-2 mm and to infuse in 70 % of ethanol for at least 20 days. Alcohol extracts obtained in this way (10%, g/g) contain polyphenols in the mass concentration of 0.40±0.02 mg/g biomass, ascorbic acid – 1.66±0.1 μg/g of mass and have weak antibacterial properties in relation to the microbiological test culture Escherihia coli, but not in relation to Streptococcus epidermis. A simple and at the same time optimal method to obtain aqueous extracts (10%, g/g) is boiling the uncrushed pieces of J. communis in water for 5 minutes. The aqueous extracts obtained by boiling of both crushed and uncrushed raw materials do not have an antibacterial action on the microbial test cultures.