Antioxdant activity and phytochemical analysis of Borreria laevicaulis and Borreria exilis plant extracts

Medicinal plant which consists of numerous benefits is gaining popularity among health conscious consumers nowadays. Borreria laevicaulis and Borreria exilis from Rubiaceae family which is famous for their medicinal properties were investigated as there is not much report on these ethnomedicinal plants. 95% ethanol,
50% ethanol, distilled water and hexane extracts of B. laevicaulis and B. exilis were investigated for their total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and antioxidant activities (AA) by using Folin—Ciocalteu colorimetric method, aluminium colorimetric method, DPPH radical scavenging assay and ABTS radical scavenging assay. Different solvents extraction significantly affected the TPC, TFC and AA of both plants studied (p<0.05). B. exilis showed higher TPC, TFC and AA regardless of extraction solvents compared to B. laevicaulis. This research suggests that Borreria plants with ethanolic extracts are a better source of phenolic compounds, flavonoid compounds and antioxidants. 95% ethanol and hexane extracts of both plants were subjected to study the active compounds using GC-MS analysis. From this study, it is shown that both plants contain many biologically active compounds which contribute
to varies biological activities. Therefore, B. laevicaulis and B. exilis can be regarded as sources of good natural antioxidants with nutraceutical potential.