Antioxidant Activities and Phenolic Contents of the Methanol Extracts Of
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BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine BioMed Central Research article Open Access Antioxidant activities and phenolic contents of the methanol extracts of the stems of Acokanthera oppositifolia and Adenia gummifera Adeolu A Adedapo*†1, Florence O Jimoh†2, Anthony J Afolayan†2 and Patrick J Masika†3 Address: 1Department of Veterinary Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2Department of Botany, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa and 3ARDRI, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa Email: Adeolu A Adedapo* - [email protected]; Florence O Jimoh - [email protected]; Anthony J Afolayan - [email protected]; Patrick J Masika - [email protected] * Corresponding author †Equal contributors Published: 25 September 2008 Received: 30 May 2008 Accepted: 25 September 2008 BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2008, 8:54 doi:10.1186/1472-6882-8-54 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/8/54 © 2008 Adedapo et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background: Acokanthera oppositifolia Lam (family: Apocynaceae) is a shrub or small tree with white latex, and the leaves of this plant are used in the form of a snuff to treat headaches and in infusions for abdominal pains and convulsions and septicaemia. Adenia gummifera Harv of the family Passifloraceae is a distinctive woody climber whose infusions are used as emetics and are said to help with some forms of depression. Lipid peroxidation has gained more importance today because of its involvement in pathogenesis of many diseases. Free radicals are the main agents in lipid peroxidation. Antioxidants thus play an important role of protecting the human body against damage by the free radicals. Plants containing phenolic compounds have been reported to possess strong antioxidant properties. Methods: The antioxidant activities and phenolic contents of the methanol extracts of the stems of Acokanthera oppositifolia and Adenia gummifera were evaluated using in vitro standard procedures. Spectrophotometry was the basis for the determinations of total phenol, total flavonoids, flavonols, and proanthocyanidins. Tannins, quercetin and catechin equivalents were used for these parameters. The antioxidant activities of the stem extract of Acokanthera oppositifolia were determined by the 2,2'-azinobis-3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), 1,1- Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and ferrous reducing antioxidant property (FRAP) methods. Results: The results from this study showed that the antioxidant activities of the stem extract of Acokanthera oppositifolia as determined by the 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and ferrous reducing antioxidant property (FRAP) methods, were higher than that of Adenia gummifera. The levels of total phenols and flavonols for A. oppositifolia were also higher. On the other hand, the stem extract of Adenia gummifera had higher level of total flavonoids and proanthocyanidins than that of Acokanthera oppositifolia. The 2, 2'-azinobis-3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) activities of the 2 plant extracts were similar and comparable to that of BHT. Conclusion: Thus, the present results indicate clearly that the extracts of Acokanthera oppositifolia and Adenia gummifera possess antioxidant properties and could serve as free radical inhibitors or scavengers, acting possibly as primary antioxidants. This study has to some extent validated the medicinal potential of the stems of Acokanthera oppositifolia and Adenia gummifera. Page 1 of 7 (page number not for citation purposes) BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2008, 8:54 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/8/54 Background as a result of occasional leakage. These free radicals are the Acokanthera oppositifolia Lam (family: Apocynaceae) is a main agents in lipid peroxidation [15]. Antioxidants thus shrub or small tree with white latex, thick leathery leaves, play an important role of protecting the human body attractive white flowers and red berries which turn dark against damage by reactive oxygen species [16,17]. Plants purple when ripen. The latex, fruit and decoctions of the containing phenolic compounds, in particular flavonoids wood of this plant were widely used as arrow poisoning in have been reported to possess strong antioxidant proper- southern Africa. These plant parts can sometimes be com- ties [18,19]. bined with Euphorbia latex, the sap of Acacia mellifera and the venom from the poison glands of snake and used as In the present study, the methanol extracts of the stem of arrow poisoning. In the Northern Cape of South Africa, Acokanthera oppositifolia and Adenia gummifera were arrows poisoned with Acokanthera and snake venom screened for antioxidant properties using in vitro standard were used to kill antelope and buffalo, and against ene- procedures so as to assess the medicinal potential of these mies [1-4]. Poisoning of animals by this plant is surpris- 2 plants and thus justify their folklore use. ingly rare but cattle are sometimes at risk during droughts [5]. Methods Plant collection The leaves of this plant are used in the form of a snuff to The plants were collected in July 2006 from some villages treat headaches and in infusions for abdominal pains and in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The area falls convulsions and septicaemia. Powdered roots are admin- within the latitudes 30°00–34° 15'S and longitudes 22° istered orally or as snuff to treat pain and snake-bite and 45' -30° 15'E. It is bounded by the sea in the east and the root decoctions are used against anthrax and tapeworm drier Karoo (semi-desert vegetation) in the west [20]. [4,6,7]. The leaves of this plant when boiled in water for These areas consist of villages which are generally classi- ten minutes, strained and left to stand overnight are given fied as rural and poor. The plants were identified by their to goats and sheep (200 ml) to treat heart water disease vernacular names and later validated at the Department of [7]. Members of the genus Acokanthera contain several Botany, University of Fort Hare and voucher specimens toxic cardiac glycosides such as ouabain [4,8,9]. Acoveno- (Aded Med 2007/1-10) were deposited in the Griffen Her- side, a cardiac glycoside, is the major toxic component of barium of the University. both A. oppositifolia and A. oblongifolia [4]. Extract preparation Adenia gummifera Harv of the family Passifloraceae is a Plants were air dried at room temperature for 3 weeks to distinctive woody climber with bright green stems and get consistent weight. The dried plants were later ground lobed leaves. Infusions are used as emetics and are said to to powder. Two hundred grams of ground plant material help with some forms of depression. Though the thick, were shaken separately in methanol for 48 hrs on an green stem is said to be very poisonous but is popular for orbital shaker at room temperature. Extracts were filtered treating of leprosy and malaria [4,6]. Species of Adenia using a Buckner funnel and Whatman No 1 filter paper. have been used as fish poisons [2] and have also been Each filtrate was concentrated to dryness under reduced implicated in stock losses, homicide and suicide [1,2,4,5]. pressure at 40°C using a rotary evaporator. Each extract The toxicity of Adenia species is due to the combination was resuspended in the respective solvent, methanol, to of a highly toxic protein, modeccin, and cyanogenic glyco- yield a 50 mg/ml stock solution [21]. sides [4,10-12]. Gummiferol, a cytotoxic polyacetylenic diepoxide was isolated from the leaves of Adenia gummif- Chemicals era by KB cytotoxicity-guided fractionation and this com- 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azinobis-3- pound exhibited significant activity against the KB human ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), 3-(2-pyri- cell line and a broad cytotoxic spectrum against other dyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine-4',4"-disulfonic acid, human cancer cell lines [13]. KB or NFKB is nuclear acti- potassium ferricyanide; catechin, butylated hydroxytolu- vated kappa B, and is a transcription factor that has a key ene (BHT), ascorbic acid, catechin, tannic acid, quercetin role in the induction of inflammatory and immune and FeCl3 were purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. response [14]. Louis, MO, USA)., vanillin from BDH; Folin-Ciocalteus's phenol reagent and sodium carbonate were from Merck Lipid peroxidation has gained more importance today Chemical Supplies (Damstadt, Germany). All the other because of its involvement in pathogenesis of many dis- chemicals used including the solvents, were of analytical eases like atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes mellitus, myo- grade. cardial infarction, and also ageing. Free radicals or reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced in vivo from various biochemical reactions and also from the respiratory chain Page 2 of 7 (page number not for citation purposes) BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2008, 8:54 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/8/54 Determination of total phenolics Determination of antioxidant activity Total phenolic contents in the extracts were determined ABTS radical scavenging assay by the modified Folin-Ciocalteu method [22]. An aliquot For ABTS assay, the method of Re et al., [26] was adopted. of the extracts was mixed with 5 ml Folin-Ciocalteu rea- The stock solutions included 7 mM ABTS solution and 2.4 gent (previously diluted with water 1:10 v/v) and 4 ml (75 mM potassium persulfate solution. The working solution g/l) of sodium carbonate. The tubes were vortexed for 15 was then prepared by mixing the two stock solutions in sec and allowed to stand for 30 min at 40°C for color equal quantities and allowing them to react for 12 h at development.