PHYTOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF PERSEA AMERICANA LEAVE

Abstract

Objective: Persea americana is a popular plant that is well known for its fruit, which is highly consumed due to its nutritional and medicinal values. The rich secondary metabolites content of P. americana creates an opportunity to utilize it as a functional food or standardized herbal preparations. The quality of a medicinal plant is determined by the active substances produced by the plant. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to determine the secondary metabolites present in P. americana grown in uncultivated farmland in Ogbomoso, Oyo State Nigeria. Methods: The dried pulvurised leaves of P. americana from uncultivated farmland in Ogbomoso, Oyo State Nigeria were extracted with methanol by the maceration method and partitioned successively with solvents of increasing polarity. The extracts obtained were subjected to phytochemical screening and the total phenolics were determined spectrometrically using the folin–ciocalteu method. Results: The phytochemical screening showed that P. americana is rich in various secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, saponins, tannins, and alkaloids. The total phenolic content gave 500µg/g gallic acid equivalent. The total flavonoid content obtained was 250µg/g using quercetin as standard. The anti-oxidant assay of the crude extract showed a high activity of 89.05% at a concentration of 0.05g/ml. Conclusion: Total phenolic content of the plant is likely to be a key for determining the free radical scavenging and ROS reducing ability of the plant.