Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Antidiabetic Activities of Leaves and Stems of Uapaca bojeri Bail. (EUPHORBIACEAE), an Endemic Plant of Madagascar

Abstract

Uapaca bojeri is an endemic Malagasy plant used by the local population. This work aimed to evaluate antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antidiabetic activities of the methanol extracts of U. bojeri leaves and stems and to report their total phenolic content and the bioactive compound content by HPLC methods. Antioxidant capacity was determined by DPPH and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. An in vivo carrageenan-induced paw oedema and acetic acid-induced writhing test in mice were used for anti-inflammatory activity evaluation. An oral glucose tolerance test was performed in mice to evaluate antidiabetic activity. The total bioactive compound content of leaves was higher than that of stems. Stem methanol extract inhibited the free radical DPPH more than the leaf methanol extract. Leaf methanol extract inhibited, in a dose-dependent manner, the carrageenan-induced paw oedema more than the stem extract, but their inhibition of the pain symptoms caused an acetic acid-induced decrease similar to the number of writhes in the dose-dependent case. The leaf and stem methanol extracts significantly reduced blood glucose levels after 30 min of glucose loading in mice compared to the control group blood glucose reduction. The presence of several bioactive compounds in U. bojeri contributed to the different biological activities, but isolation and identification of these bioactive molecules are necessary to confirm these pharmacological properties.