Antioxidant activity from the endemic aquatic Pothos tener Wall lives in Bantimurung waterfalls

Abstract

Bantimurung is located in the early tertiary isolated small land area in Sulawesi, and this is the factor that caused the endemism of its flora and fauna. Pothos tener Wall is an excellent aquatic plant used as a bioindicator in rain tropical forests and its lives under the Bantimurung waterfalls. Aquatic plant biodiversity has a great potential for bringing about new pharmaceutical inventions derived from freshwater aquatic flora. The genus Pothos is quite popular as a medicinal plant in India and Srilanka similarly P. scandens and P.chinensis as an anti-inflammatory, anticancer, cytotoxic potential, anti-oxidant, antibacterial, anthelmintic potential, antipyretic, anti-diabetic, and bronchodilator. However, the research regarding P.tenner is quite lacking. The study aimed to analyze the antioxidant activity from three extracts (methanol, ethyl acetate, and n-hexane) of P.tenner as an endemic plant from Indonesia. The TLC chromatogram pattern of three extracts had identified the free radical scavenging after being sprayed with a 0,2% DPPH spraying agent. The DPPH method with minor modification was adopted in three extracts of P.tener to examine the antioxidant activity. The IC50 value of quercetin (standard), n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol extracts were 7.4 ppm, 156,26 ppm, 196,25 ppm, and 163,78 ppm, respectively. In general, the potential antioxidant activity of three extracts was n-hexane>methanol>ethyl acetate. To conclude, the n-hexane extract of P.tener has the strongest antioxidant activity among others.