IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjopen/v6y2023i4p39-604d1283428.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Antioxidant Activity of Selected Medicinal Plants Used by Traditional Herbal Practitioners to Treat Cancer in Malawi

Author

Listed:
  • Friday Fosta Fred Masumbu

    (Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Technology and Innovation, Mzuzu University, P/B 201, Luwinga, Mzuzu 2, Malawi)

  • John Finias Kamanula

    (Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Technology and Innovation, Mzuzu University, P/B 201, Luwinga, Mzuzu 2, Malawi)

  • Anthony Mwakikunga

    (Biomedical Sciences Department, School of Life Sciences and Allied Health Professions, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, P/B 360, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi)

  • Bonface Mwamatope

    (Basic Sciences Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe P.O. Box 219, Malawi)

  • David Tembo

    (Physics and Biochemical Sciences Department, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, P/B 303, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi)

Abstract

This study evaluated the phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity of Piliostigma thonningii (Schumach.) Milne-Redh, Psorospermum febrifugum Spach, Inula glomerata Oliv. and Hiern, Zanthoxylum chalybeum Engl. and Monotes africanus A.DC., claimed to treat cancer by Malawian traditional herbal practitioners. Ground and dried plant extracts were analyzed for total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total alkaloid content (TAC), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) using standard assays. The TPC, TFC, and TAC ranged from 539 ± 2.70 to 4602 ± 32 mg GAE/g DW, 6.18 ± 0.03 to 64.04 ± 0.16 mg QE/g DW and 19.25 ± 0.07 to 76.05 ± 0.36 mg CE/g DW, respectively, and the variations were significant, p < 0.05. FRAP values ranged from 82.15 ± 0.7 to 687.28 ± 0.71 mg TEAC/g DW and decreased in the following order: P. thoningii (Schumach.) Milne-Redh > P. febrifugum Spach > M. africanus A.DC > Z. chalybeum Engl > I. glomerata Oliv. and Hiern. The scavenging activity (SA 50 ) of the extracts ranged from 0.09 ± 0.01 to 1.57 ± 0.01 μg/mL of extract with P. thonningii (Schumach.) Milne-Redh showing the lowest value. Based on the levels of phenolic compounds and their antioxidant activity, the plants in this study could be considered for use as medicinal agents and sources of natural bioactive compounds and antioxidants.

Suggested Citation

  • Friday Fosta Fred Masumbu & John Finias Kamanula & Anthony Mwakikunga & Bonface Mwamatope & David Tembo, 2023. "Antioxidant Activity of Selected Medicinal Plants Used by Traditional Herbal Practitioners to Treat Cancer in Malawi," J, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-13, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjopen:v:6:y:2023:i:4:p:39-604:d:1283428
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8800/6/4/39/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8800/6/4/39/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjopen:v:6:y:2023:i:4:p:39-604:d:1283428. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.