In vitro Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Alchornea cordifolia

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to evaluate antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory activities of aqueous leaf extract of Alchornea cordifolia by in vitro methods. The aqueous extract is prepared by dissolving ground plant materials (100g) in 1 L of distilled for 48 hours, filtered, and then dried using rotary evaporator before it was used for the pharmacological investigations. Standard phytochemical methods were used to test for the presence of phytoactive compounds in the leaf, in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities were also assayed for using various methods. The qualitative screening of the phytochemical constituents of the aqueous extracts of Alchornea cordifolia leaves showed the presence of Phenols, tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids and cardiac glycosides while the quantitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of tannin, alkaloid, flavonoids and phenol. Tannins had the highest concentration, while the lowest was flavonoids. The in-vitro antioxidant study revealed that aqueous leaf extract of Alchornea cordifolia possesses antioxidant activity in a dose-dependent manner against  DPPH, reducing power, total antioxidant capacity and nitric oxide  activity while the outcome of the in-vitro anti-inflammatory assay revealed  that the antiproteinase, membrane stabilization and albumin denaturation activities of the extracts  significantly (p<0.05) increased in a concentration-dependent  manner. In conclusion, the leaf of Alchornea cordifolia is rich in phytochemical substances. This could be responsible for the in-vitro antioxidants and anti-inflammatory activities.