Abstract
Searsia burchellii finds therapeutic applications in traditional medicine. Methanolic extracts, hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol/water fractions of methanolic extracts and water extracts were obtained separately from the roots and leaves of Searsia burchellii by the combination of maceration, hot solvent extraction and solvent-solvent partition techniques. These extracts were evaluated for their antioxidant activity using 2,2- diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil radical scavenging assay (DPPH). The extracts from roots and their fractions showed radical scavenging activity ranging from 6.60±4.50 to 63.27±1.93% at various concentrations. Similarly, the extracts from leaves and their fractions showed radical scavenging activity ranging from 3.32±0.95 to 64.91±0.15% at various concentrations. Ascorbic acid served as positive control which showed radical scavenging activity ranging from 53.62±2.80 to 60.82±0.62% at various concentrations. The IC50 values of these extracts and fractions were found to be < 200 to > 3000 µg/mL. The IC50 value of ascorbic acid was found to be <200 µg/mL. From this study, we concluded that extracts and their fractions from S. burchellii showed promising radical scavenging activity.
Highlights
Searsia burchellii belongs to the Anacardiaceae family of the Searsia (Rhus) genus
The methanolic crude extract (E1) was prepared from the roots of S. burchellii and four fractions were obtained from this methanolic crude extract viz. hexane fraction (E2), chloroform fraction (E3), ethyl acetate fraction (E4) and methanol-water (E5)
Prepared from the leaves of S. burchellii and four fractions were obtained from this methanolic crude extract viz. hexane fraction (E8), chloroform fraction (E9), ethyl acetate fraction (E10) and methanol-water fraction (E11)
Summary
Searsia burchellii belongs to the Anacardiaceae family of the Searsia (Rhus) genus. Plants from the Searsia genus have been shown to possess antiinflammatory, antimalarial, antimicrobial, antidiarrheal, anticancer, antiviral, hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities (Djakpo and Yao, 2010; Moteetee and Van Wyk, 2011; El-Salam and Mohammed, 2015; Moteetee and Kose, 2017; Mtunzi et al, 2017). The species S. burchellii, which belongs to the same Searsia genus, has not been explored for its biological and pharmacological activities so far. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil radical scavenging activity of various organic solvents and aqueous extracts from roots and leaves of S. burchellii collected from the kingdom of Lesotho and to determine their IC50 values
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