In-vitro antioxidant activities of the stem bark extract fractions of Bridelia ferruginea

Bridelia ferruginea stem bark generally used in Indigenous folk medicine for diverse uses was evaluated scientifically to elucidate the antioxidant activity of various fractions in-vitro to validate its folkloric usage. In vitro antioxidant properties of the extract fractions were evaluated using the free radical scavenging activities by 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) with ascorbic acid as control. The total antioxidant activity results indicated that, the inhibition percent of aqueous extract was significantly higher than the inhibition percent of ethanol and ethyl acetate in the DPPH methods. A higher IC50 (0.85 mg/ml compared to 1.34 mg/ml ethanolic extract and 1.41mg/ml of Ethyl acetate) value was observed. The aqueous extract was better in Fe2+chelating activity and higher in the content of total phenol as compared to ethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts. However, the ethyl acetate extract had signi?cantly higher (P < 0.05) hydroxyl radical scavenging activity with the concentration for 50% inhibition (IC) value of 0.86 mg/mL, 1.24 mg/mL for ethanolic extract and 2.16 mg/mL for aqueous extract. The results indicated that all the extracts showed excellent Nitric oxide scavenging activities with a close range of IC50 values of 0.83, 0.99 and 1.83 mg/mL for aqueous, ethanolic and ethyl acetate extract. The results suggest that Bridelia ferruginea stem bark possesses varied degrees of antioxidant activity in vitro and has the potential to be developed into dietary supplements and synergically modified with synthetic antioxidants. Keywords: Ethanolic extract, Aqueous extract, Ethyl acetate extract, Bridelia ferruginea, and Antioxidant activity