A comparative study on in vitro antioxidant activity of the legumesAcacia auriculiformisandAcacia ferrugineawith a conventional legumeCajanus cajanEstudio comparativo de la actividad antioxidante in vitro de las legumbres AcaciaauriculiformisyAcacia ferrugineacon la legumbre convencionalCajanus cajan

Exploring the phyto- and physicochemical evaluation, fluorescence characteristics, and antioxidant activities of Acacia ferruginea Dc: an endangered medicinal plant

Background

Herbal plants are potent in curing various ailments of ancient times as they have comparatively lesser side effects. The demands for natural drugs, mostly from plant sources, are increasing over the past few decades. Because of their potent antioxidant activity, Acacia species are used to treat a variety of diseases. One of the species Acacia ferruginea, an endangered medicinal plant, is widely used in the traditional medicine system, and it is considered that standardization would be beneficial. The present study investigates the physicochemical parameters, preliminary phytochemical screening, trace metals by SEM–EDS, and fluorescence properties of various extracts (non-polar to polar) of leaf and bark parts. Standard spectrophotometric methods (UV–Vis, FT-IR, fluorescence spectroscopy) are employed to analyze the functional groups, and the DPPH and total antioxidant methods are used to assess antioxidant potential.

Results

The ethyl acetate extract of leaves and ethanol extract of the bark are found to be the highest in yield, 16.32% and 2.54%. Results reveal that the total ash percentage and moisture content are of bark and the water-soluble ash of leaves is higher (10.3 ± 0.85, 7.6 ± 0.34, 3.22 ± 0.24%). The bark polar extract contained more macro-elements such as Na, K, Mg, Ca, S, and Cl. Phytochemical analysis reveals the polar extracts of leaves and bark show saponins, flavonoids, steroids, phenolic compounds, and non-polar extracts show mild positive. The total alkaloids, phenolics, and terpenoids (1.58 ± 0.08%; 0.56 ± 0.11; 0.75 ± 0.15) are found to be higher in A. ferruginea leaves. The FT-IR result shows the presence of alkanes, alkenes, aromatic compounds, aldehydes, phenolics and does not contain any toxic substances since there is no peak observed in the region between 2220 and 2260 cm−1. The in vitro antioxidant activity of the species demonstrated that both the leaf and bark parts have prominent antioxidant properties.

Conclusions

The results obtained from the preliminary standardization of A. ferruginea are very helpful in the determination of the quality and purity of the crude drug. The refurbished findings of A. ferruginea are promising, and further research is important to identify the bioactive compounds, thereby developing nutritional supplements and medications through therapeutic compound isolation.

Graphical Abstract

Kajian Aktivitas Antikanker Ekstrak Daun Gude (cajanus cajan) Terhadap Sel Kanker Kolon Secara in Vitro

Colorectal cancer is one of the five type of highest insiden in Indonesia. One of development cancer therapeutics directed to combination of chemotherapeutic agent and chemopreventive compounds. One approach to finding a chemopreventive compounds is through the exploration of natural ingredient especialy herbs. Flavonoids is group of compounds from plants that have been widely studied as anti-cancer activity. Leave of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) is, kind of Legumes plants rich in flavonoids among others cajanol, quercetin, luteolin, apigenin formonentin, vitexin, orientin, biochanin A, pinostrobin, dan isorhamnetin. This study aims to determine the content of chemical compounds in the methanol extract of leave pigeon pea that has anticancer activity using WiDr colorectal cancer cells with MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) method, followed by flowcytometry test. The result of the cytotoxicity test of methanol extract of pigeonpea leaves have IC50 of 307 ug/ml and with flowcytometry method showed necrosis WiDr cell.