Total antioxidant, polyphenol, phenolic acid, and flavonoid content in Ficus deltoidea varieties

Abstract

This research aimed to study the antioxidant activities in hot and cold aqueous extracts extracted from fresh leaf of Ficus deltoidea using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. Phenolic compounds were measured using total polyphenol, phenolic acid, and flavonoid content. Different extraction conditions significantly affected the total antioxidant activities, polyphenol, phenolic acid, and flavonoid content of the extracts. The decreasing order of antioxidant activities using DPPH method in hot aqueous extracts were as follows: var.kunstleri > var. trengganuensis > var. angustifolia, while cold aqueous extracts: var.kunstleri > var. angustifolia > var. trengganuensis. The total antioxidant content using FRAP method showed the highest activity in hot aqueous extracts of F2 with 2.13 mg Trolox equivalent per gram fresh weight (TE/g FW). Hot aqueous extract for F2 and F11 contained the highest total polyphenol content with 0.88 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g FW, while the lowest in cold aqueous of M6 contained total polyphenol content with 0.47 mg GAE/g FW. Total phenolic acid ranged from 0.54 to 2.19 mg GAE/g FW in hot aqueous extracts, while 0.59 to 1.96 mg GAE/g FW for cold aqueous extract. Total flavonoid content ranged from 0.17 to 0.66 and 0.18 to 0.51 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/g FW in hot and cold aqueous extracts, respectively. All of the antioxidant compounds correlated positively with total polyphenol, phenolic acid, and flavonoid.   Key words: Ficus deltoidea, antioxidant, polyphenol, phenolic acid, flavonoid.