Antioxidant, Toxicity and Phytochemical Screening of Extracts Obtained from Mariscus alterifolious Vahl

The plant Marisus alternifolious Vahl is a weed used in ethno medicine for the treatment of wounds, bacterial and gonorrheal infections. The dried whole plant was extracted with methanol (MMA) and partitioned using hexane (HMA), ethylacetate (EMA) and butanol (BMA). The fractions were subjected to phytochemical screening, antioxidant assay by the free radical scavenging effect on 2,2-diphenyl picryl hydrazyl radical and hydrogen peroxide while toxicity assay was by Brine shrimp lethality test. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, phenolics, steroids, saponins, tannins, terpenoids and reducing sugars as secondary metabolites. Brine shrimp lethality assay revealed that the hexane fraction was toxic with LC50 of 106.98 µg/ml while the ethylacetate, methanol and butanol fractions were non toxic with LC50 values >1000 µg/ml. HMA (76.22%), EMA (72.80%), MMA (76.04%), BMA (77.94%) at 0.0625 mg/ml scavenged free radicals better than ascorbic acid (AA) (44.0%) at the same concentration. In the hydrogen peroxide test, HMA (73.25%); EMA (79.55%); MMA (77.49%) and BMA (81.64%) scavenged hydroxyl radical at 0.25 mg/ml better than ascorbic (AA) (66.45%) even at its highest concentration (1.0 mg/ml). Phytochemicals like flavonoids, tannins and phenolics present in this plant may be responsible for its antioxidant activity and the wound-healing ability of the plant in ethno medicine. Keywords: Mariscus alterifolious, phytochemicals, antioxidants, free radicals, toxicit