Quantitative Phytochemical Analysis and Determination of Anti-Cholesterol Activity of Sungkai (Paronema canescens Jack.) Leaf Extracts

Abstract

Sungkai (Paronema canescens) has been used traditionally to cure fever, malaria, wounds, ringworm, and toothaches. The community of Musi Banyuasin in South Sumatra, Indonesia, uses this plant to treat hypertension. One of the possible causes of hypertension is an abnormal level of cholesterol. This research was aimed at conducting quantitative phytochemical analysis and investigate the anti-cholesterol activity of Sungkai leaves extracts. Fresh leaves of Sungkai were extracted using ethanol and methanol by the maceration method. The Sungkai leaves were also fractionated using solvents with step-wise gradient of increasing polarity; n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol followed by an anti-cholesterol activity test. The results showed that the ethanol and methanol extract of Sungkai leaves had total flavonoid content of 8.23±1.41 and 2.671±2.64 mg Quercetin Equivalent (QE)/g, total phenolic content of 13.00±1.48 and 4.47±1.41 mg Gallic Acid Equivalent (GAE)/g, and steroid content of 108.29±0.03 and 82.23± 0.39 mg Cholesterol Equivalent (CE)/g, respectively. The ethanol extract had higher flavonoid and steroid contents than the methanol extract, but the total phenolic content was lower, although the difference was not significant. The ethanol extract had higher anti-cholesterol activity than the methanol extract with IC50 values of 272.14 and 374.26 µg/mL, respectively on the one hand, whereas ethyl acetate fraction, on the other hand, showed the highest anti-cholesterol activity among other fractions with an IC50 value of 156.43 g/mL. The finding from this work suggests that the ethyl acetate fraction of Sungkai leaf extract has excellent potential as a cholesterol-lowering drug.