European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF WATER EXTRACT OF MAREYA MICRANTHA (BENTH.) MÜLL. ARG. (EUPHORBIACEAE)

Méité Souleymane, Bagré Issa*, Bidié Alain Dit Philippe, Bahi Gnogbo, N’guessan Jean David and Djaman Allico Joseph

ABSTRACT

Mareya micrantha (Benth.), Syn. Mareya spicata (Baill), Müll. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae) is a shrub that is found in west and central Africa. The plant flourishes in tropical climate and it is commonly used in different parts of west and central Africa to treat diseases which require drastic action, such as tapeworm infections, gonorrhea and leprosy. Its extract used in this study was powdered form obtained from the maceration of the dried plant bark in water, followed by evaporation to dryness. In this study, the antioxidative and radical scavenging activities of the total aqueous extract were studied throughout six standard biological tests: DPPH reduction, ferric thiocyanate (FTC) lipidic peroxidation inhibition and thiobarbituric acid reacting substances (TBARS), reducing power, Chelating power and the FRAP method. Vitamin C was used as a reference. This study on the assessment of in vitro antioxidant activity of Mareya micrantha showed the presence of phenolic compounds including phenols, total flavonoids and flavonols with low antioxidant activities compared to vitamin C which is a reference molecule.

Keywords: Mareya micrantha, oxidative stress, antioxidant activity, chelating power, anti-radical activity, reducing power.