Antioxidant Activity and Total Phenolic content of Chritia vespertilionis

As an effort of trial to find the medicine that can cure cancer, Christia vespertilionis were consumed as an alternative way to the artificial medicine consumption by locals. In an attempt to discover new natural antioxidant sources, Christia vespertilionis was studied to test the antioxidant activity and total phenolic contents of extracts by using a spectrophotometric method. The extraction was done with two solvents of different polarities which are absolute ethanol and distilled water. The total phenolic content was determined by using Folin-ciocalteau. The extracts was tested by quantifying their scavenging ability with stable 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical. The total phenolic content expressed as gallic acid equivalents ranged from 49.00 to 91.10 mg/ g of dry weight of extract. Total phenolic content expressed is increasing from aqueous extracts of Green butterfly wings , aqueous extract of Red butterfly wings , ethanolic extract of Green butterfly wings and ethanolic extract of Red butterfly wings respectively. Antioxidant activities were expressed as % of inhibition of DPPH and IC₅₀ (mg/ml). Value in percentage ranged from 13.73% to 37.49% where the % of inhibition increasing from aqueous extracts of Green butterfly wings, aqueous extract of Red butterfly wings, ethanolic extract of Green butterfly wings and ethanolic extract of Red butterfly wings respectively. Positive relationship were found between total phenolic content in the Christia vespertilionis extracts and their antioxidant activities. Results demonstrated that Red butterfly wings had the highest total phenolic content and most potent of free radical scavenging activity. The contents of total phenolic compounds indicated that these compounds contribute to the antioxidant activity for this species. Christia vespertilionis can be considered and regarded to have promising potential as a new source of high value natural antioxidants.