Abstract

The drugs produced from plant extracts continue to be widely used around the world, although studies have been conducted on the use of certain synthetic and semi-synthetic compounds as medicines. Additionally, it is well known that various parts of plants are commonly used in ethnopharmacology by the public for therapeutic purposes after applying simple processing. Considering the existing plant diversity in the world, scientific data on the biological effects and mechanisms of action of most plant-derived extracts are still not enough; however, interest in this subject is growing day by day. The treatment of diseases using teas, drops, dragees, capsules, syrups, and tablets produced from fresh and dried plant parts (drogs) or their extracted products with therapeutic value is referred to as "phytotherapy". In this study, it was aimed to evaluation of the effects of Hypericum scabrum L. plant samples collected in the summer season from Sivas province in Türkiye, by extracting them through different methods and testing them in Caenorhabditis elegans culture. Through this study, it has been possible to obtain fundamental data on the in vitro biological activity and efficacy of the plant on C. elegans cultures, which can serve as a basis for the use of the plant in medical applications, as well as in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. The plant stems were dried in a way that avoided direct sunlight, and extractions were carried out using ethanol and water extraction methods. The effects of the obtained extracts on the egg yield and survival parameters of the Caenorhabditis elegans nematode were examined. The data were analyzed using the SPSS program. It was found that when different doses of plant extracts were used in C. elegans cultures, there were significant differences in the growth, development, survival and fertility parameters of the nematodes compared to the control group.