Total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of limestone endemic Araceae species, Alocasia farisii

Abstract

The changing environments are giving a rise to free radical, causing development of degenerative disease. A search for natural antioxidant is required as the synthetic antioxidant reported has carcinogenic effects on living organisms. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of Alocasia farisii leaves and petioles using three different polarity solvent which are methanol, ethanol and ethyl acetate. The total phenolic content was evaluated using the Folin-Cioucalteu reagent with some modification and the antioxidant activity by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assay. The methanolic extract attained the highest total phenolic content and antioxidant activity at 46.615 μg GAE/g and 66.43 %, respectively. Ethyl acetate with the lowest polarity had the lowest value, 34.769 μg GAE/g total phenolic content and 58.274 % in antioxidant activity. The IC50 value shows methanol recorded the lowest value at 339.905 μg/mL, indicates high radical scavenging activity whereas ethyl acetate has highest IC50 value (400 μg/mL) indicates low radical scavenging. These finding provide useful information on the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of A. farisii that can be a reference for further research on this species of Araceae family. The leaves and petiole extracts of A. farisii may be exploited as natural sources of antioxidant.