EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIALS IN METHANOL EXTRACT OF GONGRONEMALATIFOLIUM AND LASIATHERAAFRICANA LEAF

Grace Emmanuel Essien and Grace Sylvester Effiong*

ABSTRACT

Antioxidants are substances which are capable of neutralizing free radicals and their actions. Oxidative stress is a disturbance in the balance between the production of the reactive oxygen species or free radicals and antioxidant defense which may lead to tissue injury. The aim of this work was to evaluate the antioxidant potentials of two widely used medicinal plants; Gongronema latifolium and Lasianthera africana, using the DPPH radical scavenging spectroscopic method. From the result obtained Gongronema latifolium had a mean scavenging activity of 80.95±0.09 which was not significantly different (p>0.05) from that of Vitamin C tablet (93.93±0.12). Similarly there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the mean free radical scavenging activity of Lasianthera africana which was 77.32±0.13 and that of vitamin C tablet. Therefore the two plants have appreciable antioxidant property that should not be neglected and their usage encouraged to help mitigate deleterious effect of free radicals.

Keywords: Gongronemalatifolium, Lasiantheraafricana, antioxidants, free radicals and DPPH.