Bioactivity of Malva Sylvestris L., a Medicinal Plant from Iran

OBJECTIVE(S): Malva sylvestris L. (Malvaceae), an annual plant, has been already commonly used as a medicinal plant in Iran. In the present work, we evaluate some bioactivities of the plant extracts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The aired-dried plant flowers and leaves were extracted by soxhlet apparatus with n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol. The antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and phytotoxic of the plant extracts were evaluated using disk diffusion method, MTT, and Lettuce assays, respectively. RESULTS: Both flowers and leaves of M. sylvestris methanol extracts exhibited strong antibacterial effects against Erwinia carotovora, a plant pathogen, with MIC value of 128 and 256 µg/ml, respectively. The flowers extract also showed high antibacterial effects against some human pathogen bacteria strains such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Entrococcus faecalis, with MIC value of 192, 200 and 256 µg/ml, respectively. The plant methanol extracts had relatively high cytotoxic activity against MacCoy cell line. CONCLUSION: We concluded that Malva sylvestris can be candidated as an antiseptic, a chemopreventive or a chemotherapeutic agent.