Volume 19, Issue 44, July - December, 2025

Antioxidant potential of extracts from Allophylus decipiens - A medicinal plant from the Kingdom of Eswatini

Manoharan Karuppiah Pillai¹, Nkosephayo Mongisi Dlamini¹, Justice Mandlenkhosi Thwala^1♦

¹Department of Chemistry, University of Eswatini, Kwaluseni Campus, Private Bag 4, Kwaluseni, M201, The Kingdom of Eswatini, Southern Africa

^♦Corresponding author
Mandlenkhosi Thwala, Department of Chemistry, University of Eswatini, Kwaluseni Campus, Private Bag 4, Kwaluseni, M201, The Kingdom of Eswatini, Southern Africa

ABSTRACT

Allophylus decipiens belongs to the Sapindaceae family of the genus Allophylus. The species belong to the Allophylus genus have widely been used in the traditional medicine to treat various conditions which include fever, cough, wound, diarrhoea, dysentery, pulmonary troubles, pain, and heart diseases. The present study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant potential and to determine the IC50 value, total phenolic contents (TPCs) and total flavonoid contents (TFCs) of various solvent extracts obtained from the leaves and stembark of A. decipiens. Maceration technique was used first followed by hot solvent extraction technique to obtain various solvent extracts. DPPH radical scavenging assay was employed to evaluate the antioxidant potential and to determine the IC50 values. Folin- Ciocalteu and aluminium chloride colorimetric methods were employed to determine the TPCs and TFCs, respectively. The percentage of DPPH radical scavenged by various extracts obtained from the leaves and stem-bark and the positive control (ascorbic acid) was found to be in the ranges of 10.85±0.79-77.69±1.01%, 2.67±0.83-71.4±0.36d% and 53.67±0.58-84.23±0.66%, respectively at a concentration range of 200-3000μg/mL. Additionally, the IC50 values of these extracts were determined to be in the ranges of 857.37->3000 and 1336.52->3000μg/mL, respectively and the IC50 value of the positive control was determined as <200 μg/mL. The methanol extracts obtained from the leaves and stem-bark showed lowest IC50 values of 857.37 and 1336.52μg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, the TPCs of various extracts obtained from the leaves and stem-bark were determined to be in the ranges of 0.82±0.07-15.81±1.96 and 1.13±0.19-72.62±7.91mg of gallic acid equivalent per gram dry weight of the extract (mg GAE/g DW), respectively. The TFCs of various extracts obtained from the leaves and stem-bark were determined in the ranges of 13.49±1.44-18.57±4.60 and 15.71±1.08-49.05±4.54 mg of quercetin equivalent per gram dry weight of the extract (mg QE/g DW), respectively. From this study, we concluded that various extracts obtained from the leaves and stem-bark of A. decipiens showed a moderate to significant DPPH radical scavenging potential. In addition, these extracts possessed a moderate to higher TPCs and TFCs.Various other bioassays, isolation and characterization of pure compounds on various parts of this plant and bioassays on the isolated pure compounds are recommended as future perspectives on this plant.

Keywords: Allophylus decipiens, Sapindaceae, antioxidant activity, DPPH radical scavenging assay, IC50 values, total phenolic contents (TPCs), total flavonoid contents (TFCs).

Drug Discovery, 2025, 19(44), e19dd3005

PDF

Published: 07 September 2025