Anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities of <i>Secamone afzelii</i> (Rhoem) Ascleipiadaceae

Abstract

Secamone afzelii is used traditionally in Ghana mainly as a wound healing agent. This study re-ports the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of S. afzelii. The anti-inflammatory activity was determined by the carrageenan-induced paw oedema method in 7 day old chicks and antioxi-dant property by the 2,2–diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging, total antioxi-dant and total phenol content determinations. In doses of 30, 100 and 300 mg kg^-1, the methanol extract of the leaves reduced carrageenan-induced oedema by 24.70%, 33.41% and 44.26% respectively. The leaf extract exhibited free radical scavenging activity with an IC₅₀ of 16.73 μg mL^-1 com-pared to ascorbic acid which gave an IC₅₀ of 2.01 μg mL^-1. In the total phenol content determination, the leaf extract was found to contain 56.86 mg g^-1 calculated as tannic acid equivalent of the dry weight of extract. The extract also demonstrated remarkable antioxidant effect in the total anti-oxidant capacity determinations and had an 87% correlation with the amount of phenolic content present.

Keywords: Secamone afzelii, carrageenan, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory