Annona muricata belongs to the family Annonaceae, which is rampant in the tropical and subtropical regions of the globe such as North America, Africa, Thailand and Asia. 1 Several pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammation, anti-diabetes, hepatoprotective and countless other benefits have been attributed to the extracts from the plant. [2][3][4][5][6][7] The phytoconstituents residing in the plant exhibit disease preventive properties, though they are not essential nutrients to human health. The plant is a domicile of essential bioactive compounds such as annonaceous acetogenins, polyphenols, tannin and alkaloids. 8 Various parts of the plant including the bark, fruit and seed are said to possess medicinal properties and its bark decoction, root, seed and leaf are vastly used in traditional medicine. 9Lipid peroxidation often involves oxidative damage by free radical assault on the membrane lipids. Lipid peroxidation plays crucial roles in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson disease, silicosis and cancer. Radical oxidation involves the attack on unsaturated fatty acids with multiple bonds by reactive oxygen species (ROS), abstraction of hydrogen atom and eventual generation of lipids radicals which results in the destruction of membrane lipids. Oxidative stress by ROS usually involves a chain of reactions which leads to damage of cell constituents such as proteins, lipid and nucleic acids. 10 Consequent to their preventive role against free radical oxidation which results in emergence of several diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular problems and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson and Alzheimer disease, natural antioxidants from plants have become a subject of attraction and interest in combating and treating diseases, 11 Several experimental guided researches have documented the antioxidant activities of A. muricata, 12,13 but there is dearth of information as regard the antioxidant potential of the plant on several prooxidants. This research is therefore undertaken to investigate the antioxidant potential of ethanol extract of A. muricata against different prooxidants in rat cerebral and hepatic tissues.
Methods
ChemicalsThiobarbituric acid (TBA) and Tris-HCl were obtained from Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO, USA. Other chemicals used were obtained from certified suppliers.
Animals15 male wistar rats with weight range of 200-250g were kept at room temperature under 12h light/dark cycle with access to water and food. Animals were housed and handled in adherence to Committee on Care and Use of Experimental Animal Resources guideline.
Extract preparationFresh leaves of A. muricata were washed with water and dried under shade at room temperature. The dried leaves were grinded with mechanical grinder and 200g of the pulverized leaves was macerated in 600ml absolute ethanol for three days. The extract was then filtered, concentrated in a rotary evaporator and stored at 4 o C for assays.
Thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) assay was used to study the antioxidant potential of Bridelia ferruginea, a widely used medicinal plant in Nigeria, sub-tropical Africa and parts of Asia. The aqueous extract of Bridelia ferruginea stem bark showed inhibition against the formation of TBARS induced by the pro-oxidant, sodium nitroprusside, in the liver and brain tissue homogenates of the locally bred male and female albino-Wistar rats. The inhibition of TBARS is an indication of the antioxidant potential of the plant extract. The extent of antioxidant potential depends on concentrations, showing varying degrees of inhibition with different concentrations. It showed a 54.16% inhibition in the liver and 60.65% in the brain, both at a concentration of 0.33 mg/ml, with IC50 values of 3.00 ± 1.58 mg/ml and 2.99 ± 1.59 mg/ml for the liver and brain homogenates respectively. The results suggest the effectiveness of the aqueous extract of Bridelia ferruginea stem bark in reversing the effect of lipid peroxidation that may result from sodium nitroprusside overload.
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