Potential Extracts of Melastomataceae Species from Mount Merapi National Park as Sunprotection Material with Antioxidation and Antiglycation Activities

Abstract

Ethanol extracts from the leaves of Clidemia hirta (L.) D. Don., and Melastoma affine D. Don., growing in Mount Merapi National Park, Indonesia, had high antioxidant activity similar to ascorbic acid. Natural substances with high antioxidant activity potentially inhibit UV-induced skin photoaging. This study aimed to investigate the sun protection factor (SPF) and antiglycation activity of C. hirta and M. affine ethanol extracts to identify and obtain candidate photoprotective ingredients for sunscreen products. Proximate analysis of extract simplicial was performed for standardization, and their secondary metabolites quantified to understand their bioactivities. Flavonoids, alkaloids, and saponins were quantified using the aluminum chloride, bromocresol green, and vanillin-sulfuric acid methods, respectively. Phenolic compounds and tannins were quantified using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The C. hirta extract showed a higher SPF value in UV spectrophotometry, and antiglycation activity through bovine serum albumin-glucose (BSA-glucose) method, than the M. affine extract. An antioxidant assay using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method confirmed that the C. hirta and M. affine extracts were more potent and had slightly lower antioxidant activity, respectively, than ascorbic acid. The high bioactivity of C. hirta extract was likely due to phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and tannins, because these metabolites were more abundant in C. hirta extract than in M. affine extract. These results indicated that the ethanol extract of C. hirta leaves has the potential to be developed as an ingredient of sunscreen products for skin photoprotection.