Comparative Antioxidant Analysis of Moringa oleifera Leaf Extracts from South Western States in Nigeria

Ayonposi Bukola Olaoye,Ikechukwu Nwankwo,Olorunfemi Raphael Molehin,Charles Ayorinde Ologunde

doi:10.1186/s43094-021-00204-8

Abstract

BackgroundMoringa oleifera is a medicinal plant that ethnobotanical studies have shown its inclusion in treatment of many ailments such as diarrhea, diabetes, epilepsy, wound healing and arthritis. It is a plant that was believed to originate from India but could now be found in both the tropics and the sub-topics. Earlier reports have not addressed the association between the location of plant collection and its antioxidant contents. In this study, Moringa oleifera leaves were collected from 21 locations within the south western states of Nigeria. Leaves from each of the locations were dried and evaluated for total phenols, tannin, saponin and flavonoid. DPPH scavenging activity, nitric oxide scavenging activity and inhibition of lipid peroxidation were also evaluated.ResultsAll the parameters analysed showed significant within- and between-group differences. Some locations had greater DPPH scavenging ability than the standard (quercetin).ConclusionEnvironmental parameters like annual precipitation, minimum temperature and maximum temperature, and soil type of the location of the plants showed influence on the level of antioxidant, while further analysis using metaboanalyst showed a notable effect of soil type on the antioxidant activity.

Highlights

Moringa oleifera is a medicinal plant that ethnobotanical studies have shown its inclusion in treatment of many ailments such as diarrhea, diabetes, epilepsy, wound healing and arthritis
Antioxidants are well known for their role in deactivating free radicals that have damaging roles to biological cells [5]
DPPH radical scavenging activity The method of Mensor et al [30] of the 2,2- diphenyl-2picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay system was used for the Results The details of samples from each location is shown in Table 1 while Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 present the

Summary

Introduction

Moringa oleifera is a medicinal plant that ethnobotanical studies have shown its inclusion in treatment of many ailments such as diarrhea, diabetes, epilepsy, wound healing and arthritis. Earlier reports have not addressed the association between the location of plant collection and its antioxidant contents. Moringa oleifera leaves were collected from 21 locations within the south western states of Nigeria. Leaves from each of the locations were dried and evaluated for total phenols, tannin, saponin and flavonoid. Production of reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radical (.OH), superoxide (O2−.), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and singlet oxygen (1O2) is associated with several degenerative diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and inflammation [1, 2]. There must be balance between the generation of these free radicals and scavenging activities of antioxidants. Previous studies have demonstrated that the antioxidant activity of plant materials is positively correlated to their phenolic components which indicate its antioxidant activity [7, 8]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion