Antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibition potential of the extracts from the stem bark of Sclerocarya birrea

Abstract

Sclerocarya birrea is a medicinal plant used in herbal medicine for the treatment of various ailments, notably fever, boils and diarrhoea. Bark decoction, when mixed with other medicinal plants, treats various infections such as malaria, syphilis, dysentery and rheumatism. This work investigated the antioxidant and α-glucosidase potential of Sclerocarya birrea Stem bark. Thus, the powdered stem bark was macerated with ethanol and crude extract subsequently fractionated to afford various fractions. Evaluation of the fractions for antioxidant activity was conducted using 2,2-diphenyl-1- picryl hydrazil (DPPH) radical and α-glucosidase. The antioxidant activity of the ethyl acetate fraction gave IC₅₀ value of 105.41 ±14μg/ml and αglucosidase inhibition with IC₅₀ values 58.27± 5.56μg/ml. While chloroform and aqueous fractions demonstrated lower α-glucosidase inhibition of 134.03, 97.4 and 72.33 μg/ml respectively. This suggest that Sclerocarya birrea stem bark may offer compounds with non-excessive α-glucosidase inhibition activity.