Antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity of Hamelia patens extracts.

Hamelia patens is widely used in the traditional medicine of Mexico and Central America for the treatment of illnesses associated with inflammatory processes. In this study, antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity were assayed on the methanolic crude (ME), hexane (HE), ethyl acetate (AE), and butanol (BE) extracts of H. patens. The total phenolic content (TPC) as mg of gallic acid equivalents per g of dry extract was determined by Folin-Ciocalteu's method (ME=141.58 +/- 11.99, HE=33.96 +/- 1.13, AE=375.18 +/- 13.09, BE=132.08 +/- 3.62), and antioxidant activity by 2,2-diphenyl-1picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical-scavenging method (EC50 ME=77.87 +/- 5.67, HE=236.64 +/- 26.32, AE=45.87 +/- 2.24, BE=50.97 +/- 0.8514 mu g/mL). Hepatoprotective activity was evaluated through AST activity on HepG2 cells subjected to damage with CCl4 (ME=62.5 +/- 3.41, HE=72.25 +/- 2.87, AE=63.50 +/- 4.20, BE=43.74 +/- 4.03). BE showed the greater hepatoprotective activity and a good antioxidant capacity, while HE did not show hepatoprotective or antioxidant activity. Cytotoxicity was evaluated on Vero cells cultures; none showed significant toxicity.