Phytochemical Screening and In Vitro Evaluation of the Antioxidant Potential of Dichloromethane Extracts of Strychnos henningsii Gilg. and Ficus sycomorus L.

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Introduction
Oxidative stress is the disparity between the production of free radicals and antioxidant defenses in the body [1][2][3][4][5].Free radicals are defned as compounds with unpaired electrons, making them highly reactive molecules that can attack any stable molecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids [6,7].Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are the most common and widely known free radicals.Tey include superoxide (O 2 − ), hydroxyl (HO − ), hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), and nitric oxide (NO − ).Most biochemical reactions in the body are known to generate ROS [8], which are potent in damaging important biomolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids if they are not scavenged by antioxidants [9].Free radicals are well known to be involved in aging and pathogenesis of stress-related disorders such as diabetes, nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, malignancy, cardiovascular disorders, infammation, and neurological disorders [10][11][12].
Human cells are well protected by antioxidant defense systems against ROS attack; however, at low concentrations of antioxidant enzymes, some cells have been shown to be sensitive to ROS [13][14][15][16].Te cellular antioxidant level is used to determine the susceptibility of tissues to oxidative damage.Tis level normally changes during oxidative stress [17][18][19].A wide variety of antioxidants are naturally obtained from plants that constitute our daily diet.Commonly known dietary antioxidants are vitamins C and E, carotenoids, and green tea [20,21].Te consumption of food and fruits rich in antioxidants plays a signifcant role in augmenting the body's natural resistance to oxidative stress [22,23].Plants also have many other nonnutrient antioxidants such as phenols, favonoids, and alkaloids.Tese polyphenol compounds have been extensively studied and documented as quenchers of free radicals [24,25].
Since antioxidants hold a key in preventing oxidative stress-related disorders, many plant extracts and their secondary metabolites are being explored for their antioxidant efects [26,27].Te use of plant-based antioxidants plays an important role in preventing the activation of the oxidationinduced signaling pathways in our bodies [28].Terefore, the identifcation of the antioxidant activities of the DCM leaf extract of S. henningsii and stem bark of F. sycomorus is an important step in increasing our understanding about their usage in the treatment of various stress-related disorders.
Commercially available antioxidant drugs include butyrate hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytolune, propyl gallate, and fuconazole [29][30][31].However, studies have shown that these synthetic antioxidants have toxic efects and show negative health infuence [32,33] and have led to some restrictions being imposed on their use [34].Researchers now have focused their attention on plant-derived antioxidants among others [35].
Globally, several plants have been traditionally used for their antioxidant activities [36,37].Ethno-pharmacological surveys indicate that medicinal plants play a vital role in the management of oxidative stress-related disorders [38,39].Plant extracts naturally possess phytochemicals such as favonoids, tannins, phenols, and alkaloids [40], which are well-known antioxidants and are currently pursued as alternative and complementary remedies against oxidative stress-related disorders [41].Several efcacy studies conducted on herbal plants have shown that plant-based antioxidants are relatively safe, cost efcient, and efective in disease management [42].
Te genus Ficus is widely known to have strong antioxidant properties due to its richness in phenols and favonoids [43][44][45].Traditionally, Ficus sycomorus fruits, stem barks, and roots have been used as herbal remedies for several ailments such as diarrhea, liver disease, skin infections, stomach disorders, helminthiasis, lactation disorders, epilepsy, tuberculosis, sterility, and diabetes mellitus [46][47][48].S. henningsii is a widely distributed evergreen herb in East Africa [47] and is used in the management of rheumatism, snake bite, abdominal pain, gastrointestinal pain, gynecological complaints, malaria, and diabetes mellitus [49].Te crude extracts of Strychnos henningsii have been documented to possess signifcant therapeutic efects against stress-related disorders [50].Based on traditional pharmacology, it has been actively and successfully employed by the Mbeere community in Embu county, Kenya, in the management of diabetes, which is an oxidative stress-related disorder.
In view of this background, the present study seeks to investigate the in vitro antioxidant activities of dichloromethanolic (DCM) leaf extract of S. henningsii and stem bark extract of F. sycomorus.Te study aims to explore and provide preliminary information on the in vitro antioxidant activities of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus as possible bioresources for the generation of herbal formulations used in the treatment and management of oxidative stress-related disorders.Te study also aims to reveal relevant research gaps that need to be explored further.

Collection of Plant Materials.
Te authors sought authorization from Te National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI/P89/6765/9816). Plant materials of S. henningsii leaves and stem barks of F. sycomorus were collected from their natural habitats from Makunguru village, Mbeere north subcounty, Embu county, Kenya, in October, 2015.Te GPS locations for S. henningsii and F. sycomorus specimens were 0 °34′11″S, 37 °37′31″E and 0 °35′28″S, 36 °36′22″E, respectively.Te collection of these samples was done based on ethnobotanical information availed by local herbalists in the area.Te plant identifcation was done by an acknowledged authority from Kenyatta University authenticating their botanical identities.S. henningsii and F. sycomorus were assigned voucher specimen numbers (S. henningsii.(Wkw001/10/21015) and F. sycomorus (Wkw 002/10/2015), respectively).Tey were deposited in the Kenyatta University Herbarium for future reference.Sample materials were carefully sorted, packed in sealed bags, and transported to the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Kenyatta University, where further processing and subsequent study was undertaken.

Extract Preparations.
Te fresh plant materials were air dried at room temperature under a shade for a week.Te dried leaves were milled into fne powder by use of an electric mill.Te powdered plant materials were sieved using a mesh pore of 0.5 mm and packed in closed, dry sealed bags and stored awaiting extraction.Two hundred and ffty grams (250 g) of each powdered plant material was soaked in 1 litre of dichloromethane (DCM) and macerated for 24 hours.Te resultant extract was poured into a clean dry conical fask and then fltered using Whatman's No. 1 flter papers.Te fltrate was extracted using Soxhlet apparatus for 5-6 h and then concentrated under reduced pressure and vacuum using a rotary evaporator at a temperature of 40 °C.Te concentrates were placed in airtight containers weighed and stored at −4 °C awaiting use in bioassays.

Qualitative Phytochemical Screening.
Qualitative phytochemical screening of DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus was performed to determine the presence or absence of selected plant secondary metabolites using standard methods described by Harbone [51] and Kotake [52].Secondary metabolites screened include favonoids, cardiac glycosides, saponins, alkaloids, sterols, phenolics, 2 Te Scientifc World Journal and terpenoids.Tese phytochemicals are associated with antioxidant activities.

Determination of Total Phenolic Contents.
Folin-Ciocalteu reagent was used to determine the total phenolic levels of the plant extracts as described by Spanos et al. [53] and modifed by Lister and Wilson [54].Briefy, 2 ml of each plant extract, 2.5 ml of 10% dilution of Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and 2 ml of Na 2 CO 3 (7.5%,w/v) were mixed and left to stand for 15 minutes at 45 °C.Te absorbance of all the treatments was determined at 765 nm spectrophotometrically.Gallic acid was used as the reference to derive the calibration curve.Te total phenolic content was determined using the linear equation based on the calibration curve and contents expressed as milligrams of gallic equivalent per gram of dry weight (mg GAE/g dw) [55].

Determination of Total Flavonoid Contents.
Te colorimetric methodology described by Lamaison and Carnet [56] and Nurcholis et al. [57] was used to determine the total favonoid contents of the extracts.Briefy, a volume of 1.5 ml of the extracts was mixed with an equivalent volume of 2% AlCl 3 .6H 2 O (2 g in 100 ml methanol) solution.Te solution was vigorously shaken to mix and then incubated for 10 minutes, and the absorbance was read at 430 nm using a spectrophotometer.Rutin was used as the reference to generate the calibration curve.Te total favonoid content was expressed as milligrams of rutin equivalent per gram of dry weight (mg RE/g dw) based on the calibration curve [55].Hydrogen peroxide solution at a volume of 0.6 ml was added to 1 ml of varying concentrations (0.1-0.5 mg/ml) of the plant extract and ascorbic acid (standard).Te mixture was left to stand for 10 minutes, after which the absorbance was determined at 560 nm using a UV spectrophotometer.Te blank solution containing phosphate bufer was used as the negative control.Tis was done in three replicates.Te percentage radical scavenging activity is as follows:

Determination of In
% Hydrogen scavenging activity � Abs. of control − Abs. of sample/standard Abs. of control x 100, where Abs. is the absorbance.

Determination of In Vitro Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) Radical Scavenging Activity.
Te abilities of the DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus to scavenge DPPH radicals in vitro were determined based on the method documented by Mehrotra et al. [59][60][61].Following this method, 2.66 mg of DPPH was dissolved in 50 ml of ethanol to form a concentration of 0.135 mM.Various dilutions, namely, 0.2, 0.1, 0.05, 0.025, and 0.0125 mg/ml, of the plant extracts and ascorbic acid (standard) were prepared.One milliliter of the DPPH solution dissolved in methanol was mixed with 1 ml of each diluted plant extract and ascorbic acid (reference drug).Te mixtures were then agitated thoroughly and left in a dark room for 30 minutes at room temperature.Tree replicates of the assays were prepared.Te absorbance of the mixture was then measured at 517 nm using a spectrophotometer.Te actual decrease in absorbance was measured against that of the control.
where Abs. is the absorbance.Te Scientifc World Journal and F. sycomorus alongside ascorbic acid (positive control) was established according to the protocol described by Oyaizu [62].In brief, various concentrations (0.2-1 mg/ml) of 1 ml of the plant extracts and ascorbic acid were added to 2.5 ml of 0.2 M phosphate bufer of pH 7. Te resulting solution was then mixed with 2.5 ml of potassium ferricyanide and incubated at 50 °C for 20 minutes.Afterwards, 2.5 ml of trichloroacetic acid (10%) was then added to the mixture and centrifuged for 10 minutes at 3000 rpm.Ten, 2.5 ml was drawn from the upper layer of the solution and then added to 2.5 ml of distilled water and 0.5 ml freshly prepared ferric chloride (FeCl 3 ) solution (1%) was added.

Calculation of
Te assay was done in triplicates.Te absorbance of the extracts and ascorbic acid was determined at 700 nm using a spectrophotometer.2).However, the rutin equivalence at the lowest concentration of 0.1 mg/ml for both extracts was not signifcantly diferent (p > 0.05; Table 3).

In Vitro Hydrogen Peroxide Radical Scavenging Activities of DCM Extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus. Te
in vitro hydrogen peroxide scavenging potential of the DCM leaf extract of S. henningsii and stem bark extract of F. sycomorus was analyzed, as shown in Figure 1.Generally, both extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus showed remarkable in vitro hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity at all the concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 mg/ml).Te extracts showed H 2 O 2 scavenging activities in a dose-related manner.Te H 2 O 2 scavenging activities of both extracts were signifcantly lower than that of the standard (ascorbic acid).However, there was no signifcant diference in the hydrogen peroxide scavenging activities of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus at all the tested concentrations (p > 0.05; Figure 1 and Table 4).

In Vitro DPPH Radical Scavenging Activities of DCM
Extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus.As shown in Figure 2 and Table 5, both extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus as well as the ascorbic acid demonstrated dosedependent scavenging of DPPH radicals.At all the tested doses (0.00125-0.2mg/ml), the two extracts showed lower DPPH scavenging activities than the standard (ascorbic acid).Te extract activities were found not to be signifcantly diferent at all the tested concentrations.4

IC 50 for Hydrogen
Te Scientifc World Journal comparable to that of standard ascorbic acid at the lowest concentration of 0.2 mg/ml.However, at this concentration, the stem bark extract of F. sycomorus had signifcantly lower ferric reducing power than ascorbic acid.At all the other tested concentrations (0.4-1 mg/ml), the ferric reducing power activities of the two extracts had no signifcant difference (p > 0.05).However, they were signifcantly diferent from that of the standard (ascorbic acid) (p ≤ 0.05; Figure 3 and Table 7).

Discussion
4.1.Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis.Te search for natural antioxidants has grown rapidly amongst clinical and medical practitioners due to the interest generated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and pathogenesis of oxidative stress-related disorders [63,64].Plant leaves, stems, fowers, fruits, and roots have been known for centuries to possess therapeutic value and, therefore, have been extensively     Te Scientifc World Journal studied to provide alternative answers to the diverse stressrelated disorders.Arguably, plants tend to ofer better alternatives for varied sources of medicinal remedy including antioxidants.
Based on phytochemical studies, the yield and the antioxidant activity of a plant extract depend on the selected extraction solvent [65][66][67].Diferent solvents are employed to isolate diferent antioxidant compounds based on their disparities in polarities [68].In this study, dichloromethane solvents were used as a midpolar solvent for extraction of polyphenols and other midpolar phytochemicals.Several assays (DPPH radical scavenging assay, hydroxyl radical assay, hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging assay, ferric reducing power, and total determination of favonoid and phenolic contents, among others) have been developed for the determination of in vitro nonenzymatic antioxidant activities of medicinal plants [69,70].
Flavonoids and phenols naturally exhibit strong scavenging abilities for free radicals due to their hydroxyl groups [71,72], which are attached to their aromatic ring structures and help to quench the radicals either by donating their electrons thus neutralizing them or via the electron   Values are expressed as mean ± SEM of the three replicates.Column means followed by the same superscript letters were not signifcantly diferent (p > 0.05) by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.F. sycomorus, and the standard ascorbic acid.Values are expressed as mean ± SEM of the three replicates.Column means followed by the same superscript letters were not signifcantly diferent (p > 0.05) by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.6 Te Scientifc World Journal delocalization over all three ring systems achieved by orthodihydroxy of the B-ring and 4-oxo group of the ring C of the favonoid, which actively reduce radicals such as DPPH and Fe 3+ to Fe 2+ ions [73,74].Tus, polyphenols directly augment the antioxidant potential through the restoration of redox balance [75].
In most plant extracts, there is a positive correlation between antioxidant activity and the amount of polyphenolic compounds [76,77].However, some studies have reported that there is no positive relationship between the polyphenolic compounds and their antioxidant activities [78,79].Te total phenolic and favonoid content of the DCM stem bark extract of F. sycomorus was lower than that of the leaf extract of S. henningsii at all the tested concentrations.Tis partly explains why S. henningsii had a better result against % DPPH radical scavenging activities and ferric reducing power assay (Figures 1 and 2) than F. sycomorus.Nevertheless, the diference in polyphenolic content between the two extracts was not statistically signifcant against hydrogen peroxide scavenging abilities (Figure 3).In this study, the antioxidant activity observed against hydrogen peroxide, DPPH radicals, and FARP were due to the presence of phenolic and favonoid components.Terefore, a positive correlation was noted between the amount of polyphenolics and the antioxidant activity.

Statistical Analysis.
Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) is a harmless and less reactive molecule, which becomes harmful, toxic, and reactive to the cell when it is converted to hydroxyl radical [80,81].Hydroxyl compounds are among the most deleterious ROS produced by mitochondria, causing oxidative damage, and are clinically linked to causes of various stress-related disorders [82].Tus, the removal of H 2 O 2 is a critical step for maintaining a functional antioxidant defense system in cells or food systems [83,84].
DCM leaf extract of S. henningsii and stem bark extract of F. sycomorus showed signifcant antioxidant activity against hydrogen peroxide in a dose-associated trend.Sirisha et al. [85] also demonstrated similar in vitro antioxidant activity while working on the methanolic leaf extract of F. carica.Te dose-dependent activities of both extracts showed that an increase in the concentration of the extract increased the levels of bioactive antioxidant compounds [86].Similarly, studies conducted on diferent Ficus species by Ahoua et al. reported the species exhibit strong hydrogen peroxide antioxidant activity in a dose-dependent manner [87].Te strong scavenging potential of the extracts is refected in their low IC 50 value.A lower IC 50 is normally associated with a higher radical scavenging activity [88].
Te fndings of this study showed that both S. henningsii and F. sycomorus extracts had low IC 50 of 0.330 mg/ml and 0.325 mg/ml, respectively, against the H 2 O 2 radicals.Tus, the low IC 50 values obtained from the study indicate that the two extracts have strong H 2 O 2 scavenging activities.Te IC 50 value obtained for F. sycomorus was similar to that obtained by Deo et al. [89] working on some selected herbal extract inhibitory properties against protein glycation and angiotensin enzyme linked to type II diabetes.Additionally, P. amarus and L. pumila var.alata medicinal plants have been shown to possess potent radical inhibiting properties with low IC 50 values of 3.4 and 5.7 µg/ml, respectively [90].
Te potential of plant extracts to inhibit the DPPH radical is strongly linked to their ability to donate electrons to the radical [46,91].Normally, DPPH radical is stable in various solvents including methanol, ethanol, and water.Terefore, the radical is usually prepared in a solution of either ethanol or methanol [70,92].Te results obtained in this study showed dose-dependent DPPH scavenging activities of the two extracts.It was, however, noted that the DCM leaf extract of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus stem bark extract had lower DPPH scavenging abilities than ascorbic acid [93].Tis could be due to the crude nature of extract as compared to the refned standard drug.Tis result corresponded to the observations of Igbinosa et al. [94] who found that Jatropha curcas had lower DPPH activities than ascorbic acid (standard).
Te results of the stem bark extract of F. sycomorus agree with a study by Kambli et al. [95], who found that the DPPH scavenging activity of F. racemosa was considerable but not higher than that of the standard drug.Te good antioxidant property of F. sycomorus stem bark extract against DPPH corroborates well with the fndings of Santiago and Mayor [96], who noted that F. odorata had a good antioxidant activity against DPPH radicals.Te DCM leaf extract of S. henningsii also showed a good antioxidant activity against DPPH.However, studies conducted by Oyedemi et al. [48], while working on the stem bark extract of S. henningsii, reported a weaker antioxidant activity against DPPH radicals and attributed it to low levels of favonoids in the stem bark extract compared to that of the leaf.Te potential antioxidant activities of the DCM extract of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus against DPPH radicals in this study can be positively related to their higher total phenolic (R 2 � 0.9782) and favonoid (R 2 � 0.9778) compounds (Tables 2 and 3).Tis higher antioxidant activity of the two extracts was a refection of the lower IC 50 values obtained (0.062 mg/ml Values are expressed as mean ± SEM of the three replicates.Column means followed by the same superscript letters were not signifcantly diferent (p > 0.05) by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.
Te Scientifc World Journal and 0.068 mg/ml, Table 1).In DPPH assay, it has been strongly suggested that samples with lower IC 50 values of 50 µg/ml are very strong antioxidants, while with a range of 50-100 µg/ml are strong antioxidants, and with values above 150 µg/ml are weaker antioxidants [97].Te potential of the two extract samples to reduce Fe 3+ to Fe 2+ via electron donation was determined by the amount of Fe 2+ complex generated and measured in terms of the absorbance of Perl's Prussian blue colour at 700 nm wavelength [98].Te change of yellow colour of the test solution to various shades of green and blue indicated the reducing power of the extract [99].Te phytochemicals in an extract either directly bind the metal ions or indirectly suppress their chelating reactivity by occupying their coordination sites [100,101].Te ultimate outcome of the reduction reaction in the antioxidant defense system is to terminate the radical chain reactions, which may otherwise be very detrimental to tissues.
It was evident that increased extract concentrations increased the ferric reducing power of the two DCM extracts.Basically, as a result of more Fe3+ being reduced to Fe2+ as more electrons were being donated by antioxidant components [102,103].High absorbance is an indicative of the increased ferric reducing ability of the extracts.Both extracts were, however, found to have a lower reducing capacity at all the tested concentrations compared to ascorbic acid, the reference compound.Tis observation was starkly diferent from the one done by Daniel and Dluya [46] in which they demonstrated that the methanolic stem bark extract of F. sycomorus had a higher ferric reducing power than ascorbic acid (reference drug) which could be the case of diferent solvents used.Nevertheless, the fndings correlate with one done by Ahoua et al. [87] on eight diferent Ficus species and it was noted that the majority had signifcantly lower reducing power against the ascorbic acid.

Conclusions and Recommendations
Te fndings of this study demonstrate that the DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus possess alkaloids, phenols, saponins, cardiac glycosides, favonoids, and steroids while F. sycomorus contains saponins, favonoids, alkaloids, steroids, phenols, cardiac glycosides, and terpenoids.Te total phenolic and favonoid content of the DCM stem bark extract of F. sycomorus was lower than that of the leaf extract of S. henningsii.Te said phytochemicals possess antioxidant activity.Te DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus signifcantly exhibited strong radical scavenging activities against hydrogen peroxide and DPPH solution at diferent concentrations used.Te IC 50 values of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus were 0.325 mg/ml and 0.330 mg/ml for hydrogen peroxide and 0.068 mg/ml and 0.062 mg/ml for DPPH, respectively.Both the DCM leaf extract and stem bark extract of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus were found to have strong ferric reducing power at all the tested concentrations.Terefore, both extracts exhibited signifcant nonenzyme-based antioxidant activities.
Terefore, the DCM leaf extract of S. henningsii and stem bark extract of F. sycomorus studied plants can be potential antioxidant compound sources and alternatives for the management of oxidative stress.In addition, studies aimed at investigating the in vivo antioxidant efcacy of the studied plant extracts are encouraged.

Figure 1 :
Figure1: Percentage hydrogen peroxide inhibition of the DCM leaf extract of S. henningsii, the stem bark extract of F. sycomorus, and the standard ascorbic acid.Values are expressed as mean ± SEM of the three replicates.Column means followed by the same superscript letters were not signifcantly diferent (p > 0.05) by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.

Figure 2 :
Figure2: Percentage DPPH scavenging activities of S. henningsii, F. sycomorus, and standard ascorbic acid.Values are expressed as mean ± SEM of the three replicates.Column means followed by the same superscript letters were not signifcantly diferent (p > 0.05) by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.

Figure 3 :
Figure3: Analysis of ferric reducing power of S. hennningsii, F. sycomorus, and the standard ascorbic acid.Values are expressed as mean ± SEM of the three replicates.Column means followed by the same superscript letters were not signifcantly diferent (p > 0.05) by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.
Vitro Antioxidant Activities 2.5.1.Determination of In Vitro Hydrogen Peroxide Scavenging Activity.Te in vitro hydrogen peroxide scavenging potential of DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus was determined following the protocol described by Ruch et al. [58].Briefy, 50 Mm, pH 7.4, phosphate bufer solution was used to prepare 250 ml solution of hydrogen peroxide (40 mM).
� 2.535x − 0.047; R 2 � 0.9778).Te leaf extract of S. henningsii had signifcantly higher favonoid concentrations than the F. sycomorus stem bark extract (p ≤ 0.05; Table 2.6.Statistical Analysis.Te data were subjected to descriptive statistics using Minitab Statistical Software 17.0 (State College, Pennsylvania) and expressed as mean-± standard error of mean (SEM).One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the statistically signifcant diference among treatments.Tukey's tests were performed for pairwise comparison of means.Unpaired student's t-test was used for the comparison of mean total phenolic and favonoid contents of DCM leaf extract of S. henningsii and stem bark of F. sycomorus.Te values of p ≤ 0.05 were considered to be signifcantly different.Te data obtained were presented in a tabular and graphical form.Te phytochemical screening was done qualitatively, and the result obtained (positive/negative) for each test was recorded in a table.3.Results3.1.Qualitative Phytochemical Screening.Te phytochemistry of the leaf extract of S. henningsii revealed the presence of alkaloids, phenols, saponins, cardiac glycosides, favonoids, and steroids while terpenoids were absent.On the other hand, F. sycomorus contained saponins, favonoids, alkaloids, steroids, phenols, cardiac glycosides, and terpenoids (Table1).contents(p≤0.05), with S. henningsii extract having the highest phenolic content (Table2).3.2.2.Total FlavonoidContents.Te total favonoid contents of the DCM leaf and stem bark extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus were calculated from the standard rutin calibration curve (y

Table 1 :
Peroxide and DPPH.Te half maximal percentage inhibition (IC 50 ) value is widely used as a quantitative measure of extracts, antioxidant potential.Te two extracts showed a lower IC 50 , as shown in Table6.Phytochemical screening of DCM leaf extracts of S. henningsii and stem bark of F. sycomorus.
6.6.In Vitro Ferric Reducing Power Activities of DCM Extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus.In this assay, the extracts were tested for their ability to reduce Fe 3+ to Fe 2+ via electron donation.Te results showed a dose-related ferric reduction by the DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus.Te leaf extract of S. henningsii was

Table 2 :
Total phenolic contents of DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus.

Table 3 :
Total favonoid content of DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus.Values are expressed as mean ± SEM of the three replicates.Column means followed by the same superscript letters are not signifcantly diferent (p > 0.05) by the unpaired Student's t-test.

Table 4 :
% in vitro hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging activities of DCM extract of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus.

Table 5 :
% in vitro DPPH radical scavenging activities of DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus.

Table 6 :
IC 50 values of DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus.

Table 7 :
In vitro ferric reducing power activities of the DCM extracts of S. henningsii and F. sycomorus.