Antioxidant activity of Loranthus ferrugineus twigs extracts

Abstract

Background: A coffee parasite, Loranthus ferrugineus, is a type of parasitic plant that is widely used as a medicinal plant. It has many activities, including as an antioxidant agent. Objective: This study is to determine the antioxidant activity in the twig extracts of L. ferrugineus. Method: The twigs of L. ferrugineus were collected from Pekanbaru, Riau Province, Indonesia. Extraction was carried out by maceration of the dry twigs using methanol, and then liquid-liquid extraction was carried out to obtain ethyl acetate and methanol fractions. The antioxidant activity test was carried out using the radical DPPH and NO free radical scavenging methods by calculating the IC50 values, and the total phenolic content (TPC) was measured. Result: The antioxidant activity assay of the DPPH method on ethyl acetate and methanol extracts revealed IC50 values of 20.85 µg/mL and 18.83 µg/mL, respectively. Meanwhile, the NO free radical method on ethyl acetate and methanol extracts showed IC50 values of 78.52 µg/mL and greater than 1000 µg/mL. The total phenolic content of the ethyl acetate extract was 26.78 mgGAE/gram, while it was 24.85 mgGAE/gram in the methanol extract. Conclusion: The ethyl acetate and methanol extracts could inhibit free radicals from DPPH, which was classified as very strong antioxidant sources. Meanwhile, the inhibition of the extracts against the NO free radical was very weak.