Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses of Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activity of Ficus sagittifolia (Warburg Ex Mildbread and Burret)

Authors: Taiwo O. Margaret, Olaoluwa O. Olaoluwa

Abstract:

Moraceae family has immense phytochemical constituents and significant pharmacological properties, hence have great medicinal values. The aim of this study was to screen and quantify phytochemicals as well as the antioxidant activities of the leaf and stem bark extracts and fractions (crude ethanol extracts, n-hexane, ethyl acetate and aqueous ethanol fractions) of Ficus sagittifolia. Leaf and stem bark of F. sagittifolia were extracted by maceration method using ethanol to give ethanol crude extract. The ethanol crude extract was partitioned by n-hexane and ethyl-acetate to give their respective fractions. All the extracts were screened for their phytochemicals using standard methods. The total phenolic, flavonoid, tannin, saponin contents and antioxidant activity were determined by spectrophotometric method while the alkaloid content was evaluated by titrimetric method. The amount of total phenolic in extracts and fractions were estimated in comparison to gallic acid, whereas total flavonoids, tannins and saponins were estimated corresponding to quercetin, tannic acid and saponin respectively. 2, 2-diphenylpicryl hydrazyl radical (DPPH)* and phosphomolybdate methods were used to evaluate the antioxidant activities of leaf and stem bark of F. sagittifolia. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids/steroids, alkaloids for both extracts of leaf and stem bark of F. sagittifolia. The phenolic content of F. sagittifolia was most abundant in leaf ethanol crude extract as 3.53 ± 0.03 mg/g equivalent of gallic acid. Total flavonoids and tannins content were highest in stem bark aqueous ethanol fraction of F. sagittifolia estimated as 3.41 ± 0.08 mg/g equivalent of quercetin and 1.52 ± 0.05 mg/g equivalent of tannic acid respectively. The hexane leaf fraction of F. sagittifolia had the utmost saponin and alkaloid content as 5.10 ± 0.48 mg/g equivalent of saponins and 0.171 ± 0.39 g of alkaloids. Leaf aqueous ethanol fraction of F. sagittifolia showed high antioxidant activity (IC₅₀ value of 63.092 µg/mL) and stem ethanol crude extract (227.43 ± 0.78 mg/g equivalent of ascorbic acid) for DPPH and phosphomolybdate method respectively and the least active was found to be the stem hexane fraction using both methods (313.32 µg/mL; 16.21 ± 1.30 mg/g equivalent of ascorbic acid). The presence of these phytochemicals in the leaf and stem bark of F. sagittifolia are responsible for their therapeutic importance as well as the ability to scavenge free radicals in living systems.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Ficus sagittifolia, Moraceae, phytochemicals.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3607864

References:

[1] H. Y. Lai, Y. Y. Lim,, and K. H. Kim, “Blechnum Orientate Linn-a fern with potential as antioxidant, anti-cancer and antibacterial agent”, BMC Complememt Altern med., Vol. 10, Apr 2010.
[2] K. Heneman and N. Krista, “Nutrition and Health Info-sheet; Some Facts About Phytochemicals”, Department of Nutrition, The Regents of the University of California, Davis campus 1, Vol. 5,pp. 230-244, May, 2016.
[3] B. Halliwell and J.M.C. Gutteridge, “Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine”, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 1-25.
[4] A. Yildirim and A. Mavi, “Comparison of antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Tilia argenta, Salvia triloba and Camelia sinesis extracts”, J Agric Food Chem, Vol. 48, pp. 5030-5034, Oct. 2000.
[5] I. Gulcin and M .O. Oktay, “Determination of antioxidant activity of Lichen Cetraria islandica.” Ach J Ethanopharmacol, Vol. 79, pp. 325-329, Mar, 2002.
[6] W. Zheng and S. Y. Wang, “Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds in selected herbs”, J Agric Food Chem, Vol. 49, pp. 5165-5170, Nov. 2001.
[7] Y. Z. Cai, M. Sun, M., H. Corke, “Antioxidant activity of betalains from plants of the Amaranthaceae”, J Agric Food Chem, Vol. 51, pp. 2288- 2294.
[8] A. Sala, M. D Recio, R. M. Giner, S. Manez, H. Tournier, G. Schinella,”Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of Helichrysum italicum”, J Pharm Pharmacol, Vol. 54, pp. 365-371, Mar, 2002.
[9] E. C. A. Rice, N. J Miller, P. G. Bolwell, P.M. Bramley, J. B. Pridham, “The relative activities of plant-derived polyphenolic flavonoid”, Free Radical Res, Vol. 22, pp. 375-83, August 1994.
[10] D. Ashokkumar, U. K. Mazumder, M. Gupta, G. P. Senthilkumar, V. T. Selvan, “Evaluation of antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities of Oxystelma esculentum in various in vitro models”, J Complementary Integr Med, Vol. 5, pp. 9-10, 2008.
[11] V. P. Veerapur, K. R. Prabhakar, V. P. Parihar, M. R. Kandadi, S. Ramakrishana, “Ficus racemosa stem bark extract: A potent antioxidant and a probable natural radio protector”, Evidence Based Complementary Altern Med, Vol. 6, pp. 317-24, Sept, 2009.
[12] M. A. Hamed, “Beneficial effect of Ficus religiosa Linn. on high fat-induced hypercholesterolemia in rats”, Food Chem. Vol. 129, pp. 162-170, Apr, 2011.
[13] M. Gregory, B. Divya, A. R. Mary, M. M. H. Viji, V. K. Kalaichelvan and V. Palanivel, “Anti-ulcer activity of Ficus religiosa leaf ethanolic extract”, Asian Pac J Trop Biomed, Vol. 3, pp. 554-556, July, 2013.
[14] E.S.S. Abdel-Hameed, ”Total phenolic contents and free radical scavenging activity of certain Egyptian Ficus species leaf samples” Food Chem, Vol. 114, pp. 1271–1277, 2009.
[15] H. M. Burkill, “In: The useful plants of West Tropical Africa”, Vol 4, Royal Botanic Gargens, Kew (K).
[16] A. H. Beckett and J. B. Stenlake, “Chromatography. In: Practical Pharmaceutical Chemistry”, Beckett, A.H. and J.B. Stenlake (Eds.), CBS Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, India, 3rd Edn., Vol. 2, pp. 75-76, 1986.
[17] J. B. Harborne, “Phytochemcial methods. Chapman and Hall Publications”: London, UK, pp.7-8, 1998.
[18] D. Kim, S. W. Jeong, Y. C, “Antioxidant capacity of phenolic phytochemicals from various cultivars of plums”, Food Chemistry, Vol. 81, pp. 321–326, 2003.
[19] D. Vijay, R. Tambe, S. Bhambar, “Estimation of Total Phenol, Tannin, Alkaloid and Flavanoid in Hibiscus tiliaceus Linn. Wood Extracts,” J Pharmacog Phytochem, Vol. 2, pp. 41-47, Sept, 2014.
[20] A. Fatma, K. Sokindra, A. K. Shah, “Estimation of total Phenolic content, in vitro Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of Moringa oleifera”, Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical biomedicine, Vol. 3, pp. 623-627, Aug, 2013.
[21] Y. S. Park, S. T. Jung, S. G. Kang, B.K. Heo, P. Arancibia-Avila, F. Toledo, J. Drzewiecki, J. Namiesnik, S. Gorinstein, “Antioxidants and proteins in ethylene-treated kiwifruit”, Food Chem, Vol. 107, pp. 640–648, 2008.
[22] R. A. Khan, M. R. Khan, S. Sahreen, “Assessment of flavonoids contents and in vitro antioxidant activity of Launaea procumbens”. Chem Central J, Vol. 6, Dec, 2012.
[23] M. Govindappa, S. S. Naga, M. N. Poojashri, T. S. Sadananda, C. P. Chandrappa, “Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and in vitro Anti-inflammatory activity of ethanol extract and active phytochemical screening of Wedelia trilobata (L.) Hitchc”, J Pharmacog Phytochem, Vol. 3, pp. 43-51, Oct, 2011.
[24] I. I. Koleva T. A. Van Beek, J. P. H. Linssen, A. de Groot, L. N. Evstatieva, “Screening of plants extracts for antioxidant activity: a comparative study on three testing methods: Phytochemical Analysis Vol. 13, pp. 8-17, Jan-Feb, 2002.
[25] D. Ahmed, M. Fatima, S. Saeed,”Phenolics and flavonoid contents antioxidant potential of epicarp and mesocarp of Lageneria siceraria fruit: a comparative study,” Asian Pac J Trop Med, Vol. 7, pp. S249-S255, Sept 2014.
[26] H. P. Rupasinghe, C. J. Jackson, V. Poysa, C. Di Berado, J. D. Bewley, J. Jenkinson,” Soyasapogenol A and B distribution in soybean in relation to seed physiology, genetic variability and growing location,” J Agric Food Chem, Vol. 51, pp. 5888-5894, Aug 2003.
[27] M. Srivastava, A. Kumar, M. Pal, “Phytochemical investigation on Jatropha curcas seed cake, “ Int J Pharm Life Sci, Vol. 1, pp. 357-62, 2010.
[28] I. Orhan, E. Kupeli, B. Sener, E. Yesilada, “Appraisal of antiinflammatory potential of the Lycopodium cuvatum,” Ethnopharmacol, Vol. 109, pp. 146-150, Jan 2007.
[29] V. Koleckar, K. Kubikova, Z., Rehakova, K. Kuca, D. Jun, L. Jahodar, ”Condensed and hydrolysable tannins as antioxidants influencing the health,” Mini Rev Med Chem, Vol. 8, pp. 436-47, May, 2008.
[30] B. Halliwell, J. M. C. Gutteridge, “Free radicals in biology and medicine," UK: Oxford University Press, 2007.
[31] F. Sharififar, G. Dehghn-Nudeh, M. Mirtajaldini, “Major flavonoids with antioxidant activity from Teucrium polium L”, Food Chem, Vol. 112, pp. 885–888, Jun, 2009.