Centro Interdipartimentale di Servizio per la Microscopia Elettronica C.I.S.M.E., University of Naples Federico II, via Foria 223, 80139, Napoli, Italy.
*E-mail: sersorbo@unina.it
Recent Research Developments in Phytochemistry 8: 69–82, (2005).
The antibacterial, antioxidant and allelopathic properties of extracts from different bryophytes were investigated in separate trials. Mnium undulatum, Leptodictyum riparium, Pleurochaete squarrosa, Rhynchostegium riparioides and Lunularia cruciata extracts and 7 pure flavonoids from mosses showed significant antibacterial activity on Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sp. and Enterococcus sp.) and particularly good activity on Gram-negative bacteria (Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Salmonella sp. and Klebsiella sp.). L. cruciata and Pleurochaete squarrosa extracts showed antioxidant activity in a luminol-dependent chemiluminescence assay. A catechin in the extracts and 2 of its derivatives, showed potent antioxidant activity. The 7 pure flavonoids used in the antibacterial assays showed significant allelopathic activity on spore germination and growth of the moss Torula muralis and on the root development of Raphanus sativus.
