EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY, TOTAL PHENOLIC AND TOTAL FLAVONOID CONTENTS OF BREONADIA SALICINA HEPPER AND J.R.I. WOOD (RUBIACEAE) LEAF EXTRACTS
UWAISU ILIYASU1,2,*, HAJARA IBRAHIM1, UMAR ADAMU KATSAYAL1, SANI ISMAILA3,
AHMAD FAIZAL ABDULL RAZIS4, KIM WEI CHAN4
1. Department of Pharmacognosy and Drug Development, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria-Nigeria
2. Department of Pharmacognosy and Drug Development, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Kaduna State
University, Kaduna-Nigeria
3. Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of the West Indies,
Trinidad and Tobago
4. Institute of Bioscience Universiti Putra, Malaysia
Afr. J Pharm Res Dev; Volume 14(2): 162-169 ; 2022
ABSTRACT
Medicinal plants are rich in phenolic compounds making them important natural antioxidants capable of
combating numerous chronic and degenerative diseases. This research aimed at determining the total phenolic
content, total flavonoid contents as well as antioxidant activity of Breonardia salicina leaves extracts. Folin-
Ciocalteu method was used for the total phenolic and total flavonoid contents determination while the antioxidant
activity was determined using 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) and2, 2’-Azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-
sulphonic acid) that is ABTS free radical scavenging methods. The total phenolic contents of the leaf extracts
and fractions were 212.5, 181.7, 201.3 and 123.4 mg/g Gallic acid Equivalence at y = 0.0068x – 0.0228 (R2 =
0.9992) for the ethanol leaf extract, ethyl acetate fraction, n-butanol fraction and aqueous fraction respectively.
The total flavonoid contents at y = 0.0098x + 0.0341 (R2 = 0.9931) were 58.7, 68.1, 57.7 and 17.1 mg/g Rutin
respectively for the ethanol leaf extract, ethyl acetate fraction, n-butanol fraction and aqueous fraction. The
antioxidant activity for the ethanol leaf extract, ethyl acetate fraction, n-butanol fraction and aqueous fraction
were 205.4, 281.7, 176.3 and 118.7 mg/g Trolox Equivalence respectively using DPPH method at y = 0.9891x –
1.996 (R2 = 0.9938) and 195.4, 275.8, 196.5 and 143.1 mg/g Trolox equivalence using ABTS at y =0.8039x +
0.2045 (R2 = 0.9996).The leaf extract and fractions had high phenolic and flavonoid contents which are
consistent with the antioxidant activity and therefore,justified the use of the plant in the treatment of many
diseases that are known to respond to antioxidantion.
Email of correspondence: ; uwaisunka@gmail.com
KEYWORDS: Breonadia salicina; Total Phenolic Content; Total Flavonoid Contents; Antioxidant.