Chemical Characterization and Comparative Biological Activities of Spinacia oleracea and Basella rubra Leaf Extracts

ABSTRACTFicus deltoidea Jack (Moraceae) is a well-known medicinal plant used in customary medication among the Malay people to reduce and mend sicknesses such as ulcers, psoriasis, cytotoxicity, cardioprotective, inflammation, jaundice, vitiligo, hemorrhage, diabetes, convulsion, hepatitis, dysentery injuries, wounds, and stiffness. Ficus deltoidea contains a wide variety of bioactive compounds from different phytochemical groups such as alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, saponins, sterols, terpenes, carbohydrates, and proteins. The genus Ficus has several hundreds of species, which shows excellent therapeutic effects and a wide variety of helpful properties for human welfare. Searching information was collected by using electronic databases including Web of Science, Science Direct, Springer, SciFinder, PubMed, Scopus, Medline, Embase, and Google Scholar. This review is, therefore, an effort to give a detailed survey of the literature on its pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, phytochemical, and pharmacological properties of Ficus and its important species. This summary could be beneficial for future research aiming to exploit the therapeutic potential of Ficus and its useful medicinal species.

The objective of this work is to prepare different crude extracts from the leaves of neem through maceration method and determine their total phenolics, flavonoids and antimicrobial activity by established methods. The different crude extracts were prepared solvents by maceration method using solvents of different polarities. Total phenolics and total flavonoids contents were determined by using UV–visible spectroscopy method. The antimicrobial activity of different crude extracts from the leaves of neem was determined by disc diffusion method against food borne pathogenic bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Vulgaris. Amoxicillin was used as a positive control. The content of total phenolics of different leaves crude extracts was in the range of 20.80–107.29 mg/100 g of powder crude extracts. The content of total flavonoids of different leaves crude extracts was in the range of 61.50–529.50 mg/100 g powder samples. All crude extracts from neem by maceration method at different working concentrations did not show any potential antimicrobial activity. In conclusion, our results of all crude extracts prepared by solvents of different polarities do not support their use as medicine for treating cough and nausea due to high content of total phenolics and flavonoids.

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Eriobotrya plants are known to have significant amounts of phenolics and flavonoids, and exhibit a strong antioxidant activity. Experiments were conducted to examine variation in the contents of total phenolics and flavonoids, and antioxidant activities in the leaves of 11 Eriobotrya species (Tibet loquat, Daduhe loquat, Hengchun loquat, Taiwan loquat, Oak leaf loquat, Bengal loquat, Fragrant loquat, Guangxi loquat, Obovate loquat, Big flower loquat, and common loquat, the last species include two materials, one is a cultivar 'Zaozhong 6', another is a wild tree). In these species, 'Zaozhong 6' loquat is a cultivar. The leaf extracts of 'Tibet', 'Obovate', 'Taiwan', 'Bengal' and 'Hengchun' loquats exhibited significantly higher contents of total flavonoids and total phenolics, compared with those of other species. Of these 11 species, the highest contents of total phenolics and total flavonoids were observed in 'Tibet' and 'Obovatae' loquats, respectively. The significantly stronger antioxidant abilities assessed by the DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power were obtained in the leaf extracts of 'Taiwan', 'Tibet', 'Bengal', 'Oak leaf', 'Hengchun' and 'Obovate' loquats, compared with the other species. In addition, significant correlations were found between the contents of total phenolics or flavonoids and DPPH radical scavenging activity/reducing power. This work indicates that the leaf extracts of the wild Eriobotrya species, 'Tibet', 'Obovatae', 'Taiwan', 'Bengal', 'Oak leaf' and 'Hengchun' loquats, exhibited significantly higher levels of total phenolics and flavonoids, and significantly stronger antioxidant activities, compared with the cultivated species, 'Zaozhong 6' loquat, which suggests that these wild species have a better utilization value.

Background: Since drug resistance has become one of the predominant problems of health worldwide, it is necessary to use new methods to combat drug-resistant bacteria. In this regard, medicinal plants are considered one of the richest sources to produce antibiotics. The aim of this study was to investigate the antibacterial effects as well as total phenolic and flavonoid contents of a number of medicinal plants collected from the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces of India, in order to investigate their potential use for the production of new antibiotics.
 Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the maceration method was used to prepare hydroalcoholic extract of Medicago sativa, Onosma sericeum, Parietaria judaica L., Phlomis persica and Echinophora platyloba DC. The effect of these plants on Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212) was investigated. To determine the antibacterial effect of the extracts, broth microdilution in sterile 96-well plate was used according to the McFarland standard (105 CFU/ml). The total phenolic content was assayed by using the Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric method and expressed in terms of gallic acid equivalent. The total flavonoid content was assayed by aluminum chloride colorimetric method and expressed in terms of rutin equivalent.
 Results: Based on the results of this study, the 512, 256, 128, 32 and 32 µg/ml doses were determined to be the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs), and the 1024, 1024, 512, 128 and 128 μg/ml doses were derived as the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBCs) of M. sativa, O. Sericeum, P. judaica, P. persica and E. platyloba, respectively. E. faecalis and P. judaica contained the highest total phenolic content and flavonoid content, respectively.
 Conclusion: Given the comparatively higher antibacterial effect of P. persica and E. platyloba, as well as the presence of phenolic and flavonoid compounds in these plants, it is recommended that these plants be further investigated in feasibility studies for the production of new antibiotics.

Mbunde M, Mdegela RH, Laswai HS, Mabiki FP. 2018. Quantification of phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant activity of Tamarindus indica from selected areas in Tanzania. Biofarmasi J Nat Prod Biochem15: 22-28. The objective of this study was to establish the quantities and antioxidant activity in fruits and leaves of Tamarindus indica L. collected from three agro-ecological zones of Tanzania represented by Morogoro, Tanga and Dodoma regions. Samples were examined for their total phenolic and flavonoid contents as well as their antioxidant activity. The total phenolic content showed significant difference in all extracts of the fruits and leaves and ranged from 1994.4±530.77 to 17874.67±5234 mg GAE/100 g. Similarly, the total flavonoid content in tamarind leaf and fruit extracts ranged from 880±609.45 to 11483.11±2559.67 mg CE /100 g dry weight. There was a significant difference between the antioxidant activity in the leaf (54.39±0.13%) and fruit extracts (40.11±0.03%). Tamarind leaf extracts exhibited significantly higher radical scavenging activity than fruit extracts. The antioxidant activity in fruit extracts expressed in percentage ranged between 29.27±0.06% and 40.11±0.03% while in leaf extracts the activity ranged from 22.33±0.08% to 54.39±0.13%. The radical scavenging activity from Coastal leaf extracts had the highest activity followed by Eastern leaf extracts and lastly Central leaf extracts. In the fruit samples, the highest activity was shown by Coastal fruit extracts followed by Central fruit extracts and Eastern fruit extract being the least active. The values in Ferric reducing power (FRAP) assay ranged between 6968±3655.91 µM Fe (II)/g and 76822.67±23259.9 µM Fe (II)/g for leaves and fruits dry mass respectively. These values correspond to the antioxidant activity which positively correlated with the total phenolic and flavonoid contents. Geographical location and climatic conditions have been reported to have enormous effects on the amount and activity of antioxidants available in both tamarind leaves and fruits. Findings from the study indicated that tamarind can be utilized as a cheap source of antioxidants. However, more agronomic studies should be considered to confirm the effects of agroecological differences on antioxidant activity.

Antioxidant activities and phytochemical constituents of Antidesma thwaitesianum Müll. Arg. leaf extracts

BACKGROUND As the longevity of human lives has increased, the geriatric population is increasing demonstrating more number of oral candidal infections due to decreased immunity. Natural products are being investigated to be used to treat oral candidiasis in place of synthetic drugs in selective geriatric cases. Propolis is one such natural product, which is time tested and developed by nature as an antimicrobial agent. Its toxicity is very less. It can be used in multiple forms. It has the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties apart from antibiotic properties and potency of the material improves as it matures with time. But the constituents of Propolis differ with the different sources of procurement. We wanted to evaluate the efficacy of the Propolis procured from Hubballi against Candida albicans in this study. METHODS In this invitro study, Hubballi Propolis was extracted by maceration and refluxing. Water and 70 % ethanol were used as extraction solvents. Total Phenolic and flavonoid contents were determined by using Folin - Ciocalteu spectrophotometric method and Aluminium chloride colorimetric method respectively. Antimicrobial sensitivity effect of Propolis was estimated by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the samples. RESULTS The results of the studies revealed that propolis samples have effective antifungal activity against Candida albicans with MIC range from 0.01mg / ml to 0.03 mg / ml and comparable high total phenolic (TP) and total flavonoid (TF) contents ranging from 175.4 ± 5.7 to 192.2 ± 3.3 and 33.08 ± 10 to 31.73 ± 8.5 mg / ml respectively. CONCLUSIONS Hubballi Propolis can be used for treating Candidal infection. Further, water extract Propolis showed better in total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) than the alcohol extract. This finding is important to overcome the disadvantage of alcohol extract and hence very useful for application in Dentistry, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. KEY WORDS Antifungal Activity, Hubballi Propolis, Flavonoid Content, Phenolic Content

Phenolic compounds as antioxidants of some products manufactured from two cultivated Egyptian varieties of seedless grapes

P123 Obstetric admissions to the intensive care unit: the role of pre-eclampsia

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the total phenolic and flavonoid content and DPPH free-radical scavenging activity of Vernonia amygdalina planted in Mekong Delta. The optimized conditions for maceration of pandan leaves included drying method, ratio of pandan leaf powder-to-solvent, and extraction time.
 Methodology: The fresh pandan leaves were divided into two equal portions, subjected to different drying methods: shade and oven drying. The dried leaf powder was macerated in ethanol at room temperature. The maceration was conducted with 3 different ratios of pandan leaf powder-to-solvent (w/v) (1:10, 1:15 and 1:20), and the extraction time was 1, 2 and 3 days. The total flavonoid content was determined using aluminum chloride method whereas the total phenolic content was assessed using Folin-Ciocalteu assay. Meanwhile, the antioxidant activity of the plant extracts was quantitatively evaluated using DPPH test.
 Results: The results indicated that the best conditions for maceration of pandan leaves were 1:10 shade-dried leaf powder-to-solvent ratio in 1-day extraction time. Accordingly, the total flavonoid and phenolic content was found to be the highest value of 130.02 ± 2.24 mg QE/g of dried extract and 100.67 ± 1.76 mg GAE/g of dried extract (p < 0.05), respectively. The lowest IC50 of DPPH free-radical scavenging activity of pandan leaf extract was found to be 0.90 ± 0.02 mg/mL (p < 0.05). In addition, the Pearson’s correlation coefficient between IC50 of DPPH free-radical scavenge activity and total flavonoid content was R2 = 0.74 compared to that of phenolic content with the value of R2 = 0.69, indicating that the IC50 of DPPH free-radical scavenge capacity of pandan leaves was influenced chiefly by flavonoid compounds.
 Conclusion: There was a significant difference in phenolic and flavonoid content and DPPH free-radical scavenging activity between shade-dried and oven-dried pandan leaf extracts.

Solanum anguivi Lam. is an ethnomedicinal plant. Local traditional practitioners believe that it reduces the risk of diabetes and atherosclerosis diseases. The present study was intended to conduct qualitative phytochemical analysis, determine the total flavonoid and phenolic contents, estimate the antioxidant capacity and antibacterial activities of the extracts of the fruits of this plant. The antioxidant activity was determined by analyzing the radical scavenging activity (RSA) using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl (DPPH), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. The antibacterial activities were determined by the agar well diffusion method. Qualitative phytochemical screening of the crude extracts obtained from the fruits of the plant indicated the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, glycosides, steroids, terpenoids, saponins and tannins. The highest total phenolic and total flavonoid content were obtained in the ethanol extract of the fruits, followed by dichloromethane and n-hexane extract. The total phenolic content (in gallic acid equivalents, GAE) ranged from 113.3 to 202.72 mg GAE/g. The total flavonoid content (in catechin equivalent, CE) varied from 61.72 to 142.64 mg (CE)/g. All fruit extracts of S. anguivi exhibited antioxidant activity as revealed by DPPH and FRAP assays. The DPPH RSA (% inhibition) of the fruit extract varied from 35.11 to 80.13. The total phenolic and Flavonoid contents showed alinear correlation with RSA. Furthermore, all fruit extracts showed antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria varying from 12.5 to 16.75 mm. The result showed that the extracts of the plant exerted stronger bactericidal effect on gram-positive bacteria than on gram-negative bacteria. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13102818.2021.1993087 .

Thymus schimperi Ronniger is a wild endemic herb to Ethiopia, and is traditionally used as food flavoring, preservative as well as medicinal ingredient. This paper reports the total phenolic and flavonoid contents, antioxidant capacity and α-amylase inhibition activity of various solvent extracts of the dried leaves. The acetone extracts contained the highest total phenolic content (122.0±11.6 mg GAE/g). Total flavonoid content was the highest in methanol extract (45.1±2.9 mg QRE/g). The aqueous methanol extract showed the highest 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging ability (IC50 =11.0±1.0 µg/ml), iron reducing power (60.1±1.0 mg AAE/g), and total antioxidant capacity (1.1±0.1 mg BHTE/g). The water extract exhibited the highest iron chelating activity (IC50 = 65.4±1.1 µg/ml) while the methanol extract exhibited the highest percentage of α-amylase inhibition activity (IC50 = 335. 6±90.4 µg/ml). Except for iron chelating activity, all antioxidant activities were positively correlated with total phenolic and flavonoid contents. The study revealed that antioxidant and α-amylase inhibitory activities of the crude extract were variable when extracted by different solvents indicating a high potential to be used as natural antioxidants in food preservation as well as for preventing oxidative stress mediated human disorders. Key words: Antioxidant activity, α-amylase, BHT, phenolic, Thymus schimperi Ronniger, thyme.

Total phenolic, flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity of flour, noodles, and steamed bread made from different colored wheat grains by three milling methods

There is some evidence that chronic diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, may occur as a result of oxidative stress. Apple peels have high concentrations of phenolic compounds and may assist in the prevention of chronic diseases. Millions of pounds of waste apple peels are generated in the production of applesauce and canned apples in New York State each year. We proposed that a valuable food ingredient could be made using the peels of these apples if they could be dried and ground to a powder without large losses of phytochemicals. Rome Beauty apple peels were treated with citric acid dips, ascorbic acid dips, and blanches before being oven-dried at 60 degrees C. Only blanching treatments greatly preserved the phenolic compounds, and peels blanched for 10 s had the highest total phenolic content. Rome Beauty apple peels were then blanched for 10 s and dried under various conditions (oven-dried at 40, 60, or 80 degrees C, air-dried, or freeze-dried). The air-dried and freeze-dried apple peels had the highest total phenolic, flavonoid, and anthocyanin contents. On a fresh weight basis, the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of these samples were similar to those of the fresh apple peels. Freeze-dried peels had a lower water activity than air-dried peels on a fresh weight basis. The optimal processing conditions for the ingredient were blanching for 10s and freeze-drying. The process was scaled up, and the apple peel powder ingredient was characterized. The total phenolic content was 3342 +/- 12 mg gallic acid equivalents/100 g dried peels, the flavonoid content was 2299 +/- 52 mg catechin equivalents/100 g dried peels, and the anthocyanin content was 169.7 +/- 1.6 mg cyanidin 3-glucoside equivalents/100 g dried peels. These phytochemical contents were a significantly higher than those of the fresh apple peels if calculated on a fresh weight basis (p < 0.05). The apple peel powder had a total antioxidant activity of 1251 +/- 56 micromol vitamin C equivalents/g, similar to fresh Rome Beauty peels on a fresh weight basis (p > 0.05). One gram of powder had an antioxidant activity equivalent to 220 mg of vitamin C. The freeze-dried apple peels also had a strong antiproliferative effect on HepG(2) liver cancer cells with a median effective dose (EC(50)) of 1.88 +/- 0.01 mg/mL. This was lower than the EC(50) exhibited by the fresh apple peels (p < 0.05). Apple peel powder may be used in a various food products to add phytochemicals and promote good health.