Study on in vitro antioxidant activities of Chrysophyllum albidum G. Don stem-bark

Abstract

Chrysophyllum albidum G.Don is commonly known as African star apple. It possesses medicinal properties and used in folk medicine for the treatment of coronary heart diseases, stroke, anti-inflammatory, diabetes, cancers and diarrhea. Natural antioxidants either in the form of raw extracts or their chemical constituents are very effective to prevent the destructive processes caused by oxidative stress. The present study was carried out to investigate the phytochemicals and antioxidant activities of ethanol extract of Chrysophyllum albidum stem-bark. The phytochemical tests reviewed the presence of alkaloids (53%), tannins (6%), saponins (21%), flavonoids (10.25%), cardiac glycosides (21.36%), steroids (7.58%) and anthraquinone (8.72%). The overall antioxidant activities observed in the stem-bark of Chrysophyllum albidum showed strong free radical scavenging activity with DPPH (81.88±0.83 at 50 mg/ml) when compared with the reference chemical (TROLOX). The present study validates the traditional use, demonstrating that the stem-bark of Chrysophyllum albidum possesses concentration-dependent antioxidant activity.