Vol. 9, Issue 4 (2020)

Author(s):
Afieroho OE and Ugbor ME

Abstract:
This study reports some antioxidant indices: free radical scavenging (FRS), total phenolics content (TPC) and total flavonoids content (TFC) of the fresh flowers of Harungana madagascariensis a plant widely used in folklore medicine. The crude absolute ethanol (FLE) extract was obtained by cold maceration and then partitioned with dichloromethane to obtain the non-polar dichloromethane (FLD) and the polar aqueous (FLA) fractions. The antioxidant properties FRS, TPC and TFC were respectively evaluated in vitro using the standard the diphenylpicryl hydrazine (DPPH), Folin Ciocateau and Aluminium chloride spectrophotometric assays. Phytochemical screening was done using standard reagents. At 100 μg/mL test concentration, the FLE, FLA, and FLD exhibited a significantly different (p<0.05) FRS activity. The trend in free radical scavenging property (IC₅₀ (μg/ml)): FLD (16.80) >Ascorbic acid (12.17) >FLE (11.36) > FLA (7.36). Triterpenoids, cardiac glycosides, Phenolics like flavonoids, and carbohydrate derivatives were present in the flowers while anthraquinones, alkaloids, saponins and cyanogenic glycosides were however absent. This study is reporting for the first time the antioxidant and phytochemical properties of the flowers of H. madagascariensis a plant widely used in ethno-medicine.