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<i>In vitro</i> antioxidant activity of extracts from the leaves of <i>Felicia muricata</i> Thunb. an underutilized medicinal plant in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
Abstract
Felicia muricata is a medicinal plant used for the management of different human and livestock diseases in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The antioxidant potential of the leaves from this herb was investigated using its water, methanol, acetone and ethanol extracts. All the extracts were rich in phenols, proanthocyanidins and flavonols but low in flavonoids. The water extract exhibited low DPPH scavenging activity while the methanol, acetone and ethanol extracts showed higher activities. Again all the extracts showed high ABTS scavenging activity with a correlation between total phenolic content (R2=0.9965), DPPH (R2 =0.982) and ABTS (R2=0.927). Traditionally, however, plant extracts are prepared with water as infusions, decoction and poultice. Our results have shown that both the water and ethanol extracts from Felicia muricata displayed strong antioxidant activity. Therefore, it would seem likely that both solvents were able to extract those compounds which are responsible for the antioxidant activity of F. muricata.
Key words: Felicia muricata, antioxidant, DPPH, ABTS, radical scavenging activity.
List of abbreviations: BHT = butylated hydroxytoluene, DPPH = 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl, ABTS = 2,2azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt, AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, FeCl3= ferric chloride.
