PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF AFRICAN STAR APPLE (CHRYSOPHYLLUM ALBIDUM) AQUEOUS LEAF EXTRACT FOR ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL

Chrysophyllum albidum is commonly known as African star apple. It possesses medicinal properties and used in folk medicine for the treatment of coronary heart diseases, stroke, anti-inflammatory, diabetes, cancers and diarrhea. Natural antioxidants either in the form of raw extracts or their chemical constituents are very effective to prevent the destructive processes caused by oxidative stress. The present study was carried out to investigate the phytochemicals, mineral composition and antioxidant activities of aqueous extract of Chrysophyllum albidum leaf. Phytochemical screening, mineral composition and in vitro antioxidant activities were investigated using standard analytical methods. In the present study, percentage yield of the aqueous extract of Chrysophyllum albidum leaf is 2.58% and the phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, phlobatannins, terpernoids and steroids. The mineral content of the extract was found to be Sodium (85.23 ± 3.01mg/g), Phosphorus (110.24 ± 6.50mg/g), Calcium (101.20 ± 3.14mg/g), Magnesium (64.12 ± 3.41mg/g), Zinc (20.40 ± 3.11mg/g) and this makes the leaves a good source of minerals. The total phenolic and total flavonoid content of the aqueous extract of Chrysophyllum albidum leaf were (416.20 ± 0.06 mg GAE/g) and (235.14 ± 0.036 mg GAE/g) respectively. There was no significant difference in the antioxidant activities observed in the extract showed to scavenge free radical with FRAP at 400µg/ml (78.43 ± 0.02%) when compared with Ascorbic acid (83.00 ± 0.02%), also there was no significant difference in the antioxidant activities observed in the extract showed to scavenge free radical with DPPH at 250µg/ml (87.30 ± 0.01%) when compared with Ascorbic acid (91.20 ± 0.01%). The result showed the antioxidant potency of the leaf and its ability to scavenge the 2, 2-diphenyl -1- picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing power (FRAP) radicals. The present study validates the traditional use, demonstrating that the aqueous extract of Chrysophyllum albidum possesses concentration–dependent antioxidant activity. The variety of the medicinal and pharmacological potential possessed by this plant may be traced to some of the identified compounds acting either singly or in synergy. Compounds having antimicrobial, wound healing, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential were identified. This result encourages the continuous use of Chrysophyllum albidum in traditional medicine and also the possibility of the use of the identified constituents as lead compounds in the development of new useful drugs. Further investigations to analyze its bioactivity and clinical trials are necessary for discovery of new drugs formulations.