Antioxidant and antiacetylcholine esterase potential of aerial parts of Conocarpus erectus, Ficus variegata and Ficus maclellandii

Pak J Pharm Sci. 2016 Mar;29(2):489-95.

Abstract

The current study was designed to check the antioxidant and enzyme inhibition potential of various extracts/ fractions of three selected plants. The aerial parts of Conocarpus erectus (Combretaceae), Ficus variegata (Moraceae) and Ficus maclellandii (Moraceae) were extracted with ethanol (95%) and the resulting crude extracts were partitioned with n-hexane, chloroform and n-butanol successively. Folin-Ciocalteu reagent was used to calculate the total phenolic contents, flavonoids contents were calculated with aluminum chloride while antioxidant and enzyme studies were carried out through standard protocols. All extracts/fractions contained reasonable amount of phenolic compounds ranging from 0.58-58.23 mg CE/g of DW and 0.43-30.56 mg GAE/g of DW. Total flavonoids were determined using rutin and quercetin standards, ranging from 2.65-18.2 mg rutin equivalent/g of dry weight and 0.92-5.41 mg quercetin equivalent/g of dry weight. Antioxidant studies such as DPPH inhibition FRAP and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was checked. The crude ethanolic extract of C. erectus showed maximum antiradical scavenging power (90.43%; IC50=7 μg) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (16.5 μM eq.FeSO4.7H2O), respectively while leave extract of F. variegata (chloroform) was the most active (0.6577) in TAC among other extracts of the selected medicinal plants. Butanolic leave extract of C. erectus exhibited maximum enzyme inhibition activity (91.62% with IC50 40 μg/ml) while other extracts showed significant activity. It was observed from results that all extracts/fractions of under consideration plants, exhibited significant bioactivities especially ethanolic and butanolic fractions, which may be the richest source of such type of activities.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylcholinesterase / metabolism
  • Antioxidants / isolation & purification
  • Antioxidants / pharmacology*
  • Biphenyl Compounds / chemistry
  • Cholinesterase Inhibitors / isolation & purification
  • Cholinesterase Inhibitors / pharmacology*
  • Combretaceae / chemistry*
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Ferric Compounds / chemistry
  • Ficus / chemistry*
  • GPI-Linked Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors
  • GPI-Linked Proteins / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Phytotherapy
  • Picrates / chemistry
  • Plant Components, Aerial
  • Plant Extracts / isolation & purification
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology*
  • Plants, Medicinal
  • Solvents / chemistry

Substances

  • Antioxidants
  • Biphenyl Compounds
  • Cholinesterase Inhibitors
  • Ferric Compounds
  • GPI-Linked Proteins
  • Picrates
  • Plant Extracts
  • Solvents
  • ferric sulfate
  • 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl
  • ACHE protein, human
  • Acetylcholinesterase