This study investigated various biological activities of the ethanolic extract of dried ground leaves of
Schefflera leucantha
Viguier(Araliaceae). The extract possessed very low cytotoxicity to brine-shrimp with the LC
50 of 4,111.15mg/ml; the significant antioxidant activity on DPPH with the EC
50 of 71.90 μg/ml; the inhibitory activity on mushroom tyrosinase with the IC
50 of 10.53mg/ml using the dopachrome microplate-assay. The extract of 5-20mg/ml range in the agar dilution assay were active against various pathogenic microbial (11 species, 11 strains), with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 5mg/ml against Clostridium spp.; MIC=10mg/ml against enteropathogens as
Bacteroides
spp.,
Enterococcus faecalis
ATCC 29212,
Lactobacillus
spp.,
Peptococcus
spp. and
Streptococcus mutans
; MIC=10mg/ml against a pneumonia causing bacteria
Klebsiella pneumoniae
and a dermatopathogen as Propionibacterium acnes; MIC=20mg/ml against dermatopathogens as
Staphylococcus aureus
ATCC 6538, Streptococcus spp. and
Candida albicans
ATCC 90028. TLC fingerprints of the specific extracts from the leaf powder exhibited zones of steroids-terpenes and flavonoids. HPLC fingerprint of the flavonoid extract was performed.