Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
Anas Al Ali
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, An-Najah National University, P.O. Box 7, Nablus, Palestine
Preferred Abstract (Original):
This
study designed to evaluate antioxidant activity, screen the existence
of phytogenic chemical compounds and to determine the total flavonoid
and phenol contents of the Ephedra alata. to prove its utilization in
the Palestinian folk medicine for treatment of cancer. Total flavonoid
contents of the plant were determined by using rutin reference standard
method and total phenols determined by using Folin Ciocalteu method
while antioxidant activity evaluated by using 2,
2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate assay. Phytochemical
analyses indicated the presence of cardiac glycosides, reducing sugars,
flavonoids, phenolic compounds and alkaloids. The total phenolic
content in the ethanolic extract was 19.175 mg gallic acid while was the
highest in the methanolic extract which was 47.62 mg gallic acid
equivalent/g of extract powder. The
total flavonoid content of the plant was 0.519 mg RU/g in the aqueous
extract and 5.44 mg RU/g in the ethanolic extract while was the highest
in the methanolic extract 54.66 mg RU/g. In
the same time the E. alata methanolic extract showed that it has high
antioxidant activity and powerful oxygen free radical scavenging
abilities as well as the IC50 for the plant was almost equivalent to the
Trolox standard antioxidant which justified its uses in the Palestinian
traditional medicines and could represented as a good candidate for
further biological and chemical analysis, and can be further subjected
for isolation of the therapeutically active compounds with anticancer
activity and also for further pharmacological evaluations.