Comparative Studies of the Phytochemical and Antioxidant activities of the leaves, stem, roots and seed extracts of Mitracarpus scaber Zucc. (Rubiaceae)

Extracts of the leaves, stem, roots and seeds of Mitracarpus scaber plant have been fully investigated in an attempt to determine their phytochemical and antioxidant activities. Phytochemical screening carried out by thin layer chromatography (TLC) revealed the presence of several secondary metabolites in all the selective extracts of the plant. The levels of phenolic compounds showed that the leaves of M. Scaber are the richest in polyphenols with an average value of 488.291 μg EAG/g. The total flavonoid assay revealed a high content in the leaves (1.6236 %). In addition, studies of the antioxidant activities by DPPH ● method showed a significant effect compared to vitamin C (96.617 %). The percentages of inhibition are respectively 89.82 % and 82.3 % for ethyl acetate extracts of the leaves and seeds. Furthermore, the inhibitory percentages of n-butanol in the leaves and seeds are 90.57 % and 83.67 % respectively. Calculated IC 50 showed that the n-butanol fraction of the seeds exhibited the highest activity with an IC 50 of 0.293 mg/mL , less than ascorbic acid with an IC 50 of 0.387 mg/mL.