Total flavonoid and polyphenol content of Tinospora crispa cultivated at highland region

Abstract

Background: Tinospora crispa (T. crispa) is herbaceous plant which commonly grows wild in tropical regions of South East Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. In Indonesia this plant is well known to be used as traditional medicine to treat gout, diabetes, hypertension, rheumatic, fever, and appetite stimulant. Researches worldwide indicated that T. crispa poses several pharmacological properties. One of those is the antioxidant activity, acting as free radical scavenger. The objective of this study was to determine the antioxidative properties of T. crispa by analyzing the total flavonoid and polyphenol content.
 Methods: T. crispa was cultivated at 850 AMSL field in Materia Medica Batu. The plant was harvested by cutting 5 cm of old stem and dried in 50° C for 7 days. Powder was then made by using milling machine. The amount of 300 g powder was subsequently macerated to get T. crispa extract. Total flavonoid and polyphenol contents were determined by using spectrophotometry method.
 Result: From 300 g T. crispa powder using maceration method gave liquid yield with 56 g weight and 18.66% rendement. Total flavonoid and polyphenol content was 0.04% ± [3.68%] (w/w) and 0.60% ± [0.8%] (w/w) respectively.
 Conclusion: Despite low in concentration, flavonoid and polyphenol content was successfully determined from T. crispa. In the future free radical scavenging assay need to be conducted to understand better about the antioxidant activity of T. crispa.
 Keywords: Tinospora crispa, Brotowali, Flavonoid, Polyphenol.