Original article: IMMORTELLE (XERANTHEMUM ANNUUM L.) AS A NATURAL SOURCE OF BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCES

Antioxidant and antimicrobial effects, total phenolic content and flavonoid concentrations of methanolic, acetone and ethyl acetate extracts from Xeranthemum annuum L. were investi-gated in this study. The total phenolic content was determined using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and ranged between 101.33 to 159.48 mg GA/g. The concentration of flavonoids in various X. annuum extracts was determined using spectrophotometric method with aluminum chloride and the results varied from 22.25 to 62.42 mg RU/g. Antioxidant activity was monitored spec-trophotometrically using DPPH reagent and expressed in terms of IC50 (µg/ml), and it ranged from 59.25 to 956.81 µg/ml. The highest phenolic content and capacity to neutralize DPPH radicals were found in the acetone extract. In vitro antimicrobial activity was determined by microdilution method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum microbicidal concentration (MMC) have been determined. Testing was conducted against 24 microorgan-isms, including 15 strains of bacteria (standard and clinical strains) and 9 species of fungi. Statistically significant difference in activity between the extracts of X. annuum L. was ob-served and the acetone extract was found most active. The activity of acetone extract was i