Phytochemical investigations and antioxidant potential of roots of Leea macrophylla (Roxb.)

Zobaer Al Mahmud; Sitesh C Bachar; Choudhury Mahmood Hasan; Talha Bin Emran; Nazmul Qais; Mir Muhammad Nasir Uddin

doi:10.1186/s13104-017-2503-2

Phytochemical investigations and antioxidant potential of roots of Leea macrophylla (Roxb.)

BMC Res Notes. 2017 Jul 6;10(1):245. doi: 10.1186/s13104-017-2503-2.

Authors

Zobaer Al Mahmud¹, Sitesh C Bachar², Choudhury Mahmood Hasan³, Talha Bin Emran^{4

5

6}, Nazmul Qais⁷, Mir Muhammad Nasir Uddin⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh.
² Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh.
⁴ Laboratory of Vaccinology and Applied Immunology, Kanazawa University School of Pharmacy, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa, 920-1192, Japan.
⁵ Department of Pharmacy, BGC Trust University Bangladesh, Chittagong, 4000, Bangladesh.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, 4331, Bangladesh.
⁷ Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh. nqais@yahoo.com.
⁸ Department of Pharmacy, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, 4331, Bangladesh. mir.m.nasiruddin@cu.ac.bd.

Abstract

Background: Oleanolic acid (NZ-15), 7 α, 28-olean diol (NZ-38) and Stigmasterol (NZ-14) were isolated from the ethanolic extracts of the roots of Leea macrophylla (Family: Leeaceae) by using chromatographic analysis. This is the first report of isolation of these compounds from this plant. Their structures were constructed by spectroscopic analysis and by comparing the data with the published one. Subsequently the ethanolic extract was fractionated with two organic solvents and all the fractions were studied to evaluate their in vitro antioxidant property.

Methods: The ethanolic extract was fractionated with two organic solvents and all the fractions were studied to evaluate their in vitro antioxidant property by DPPH free radical scavenging assay, superoxide anion radical scavenging assay, nitric oxide radical scavenging assay, and reducing power assay.

Results: In the DPPH free radical scavenging assay and superoxide radical scavenging assay, the ethyl acetate soluble fraction of ethanolic extract revealed the highest free radical scavenging activity with IC₅₀ value of 2.65 and 155.62 μg/ml, respectively as compared to standard ascorbic acid (IC₅₀ value of 5.8 and 99.66 μg/ml). Ethyl acetate fraction also possessed highest reducing power activity with an EC50 value of 15.27 μg/ml compared to ascorbic acid (EC₅₀ 0.91 μg/ml). On the other hand, the carbon tetrachloride fraction exhibited most significant NO scavenging activity with IC₅₀ value of 277.8 μg/ml that was even higher than that of standard ascorbic acid (IC₅₀ value 356.04 μg/ml). In addition, the total phenolic contents of these extract and fractions were evaluated using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and varied from 7.93 to 50.21 mg/g dry weight expressed as gallic acid equivalents (GAE).

Conclusions: This study showed that different extracts of roots of L. macrophylla possess potential DPPH, superoxide, and NO free radical scavenging activities. The antioxidant activities of the plant extracts might be due to the presence of oleanolic acid, oleanolic acid derivative 7 α, 28-olean diol and stigmasterol.

Keywords: Antioxidant potential; Compound isolation; Leea macrophylla; Phytochemical; Spectroscopic analysis.

MeSH terms

Antioxidants*
Oleanolic Acid / isolation & purification*
Plant Roots*
Stigmasterol / isolation & purification*
Vitaceae*

Substances

Antioxidants
Oleanolic Acid
Stigmasterol