Chemical constituents from the leaf extracts of Scleria depressa (C.B. Clarke) Nelmes with its antioxidant and antiinflammatory activity

Abstract

Antioxidant and antiinflammatory activity of the extracts of Scleriadepressa leaf part were investigated in this study. The leaf part of Scleriadepressa were dried, ground, weighed, and exhaustively extracted with n-hexane, ethylacetate and methanol. GC-MS analysis of the extracts was carried out to know the compounds present in the extracts as well as their molecular formula. These extracts of the plant were evaluated for antioxidant and antiinflammatory activity using peroxide scavenging, lipoxidase and membrane stabilization. Hexane, Ethylacetate and methanol extracts of the Scleriadepressa leaves exhibited antioxidant activity on peroxide radicals at different concentrations ranging from 10-150 µg/mL, using ascorbic acid as standard antioxidant. Ethylacetate and methanol extracts of the plant’s leaves possessed antioxidant activity by exhibiting peroxide free radical scavenging with IC₅₀of 106.23 and 148.79µg/mL respectively, using peroxide antioxidant assay. The hexane extract shows inhibition that is more pronounced compared to that of ethylacetate for the anti-inflammatory activity while methanol extract of the plant’s leaves shows activity higher than that of hexane and ethylacetate for the anti-inflammatory activity. The GC-MS analysis shows the presence of 13 compounds for hexane extract with Carvomenthol,( an α-Terpenol) and 1,2,3-Trimethylbenzene being the abundant compounds with %abundanceof 23.78% and 19.20% respectively, while ethylacetate extract revealed 19 compounds with 1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid,bis(2-methylpropylester), and 4,7-dimethylundecane with corresponding % abundance of 24.56% and 16.83% being the abundant compound also the GC-MS analysis of methanol extract of Scleriadepressa leaves showed the presence of 11 compounds. The compound with highest abundance is Methyl-9-octadecenoate, with %abundance of 69.86 and retention time of 14.714.