Traditional Usages and Phytochemical Screenings of Selected Zingiberaceae from Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Background: Zingiberaceae is one of the significant components of the herbaceous ground flora of Southeast Asia tropical forests. This family includes some medicinally important species, in particular the members of genera of Alpinia, Curcuma, Etlingera and Zingiber (Van Balgooy, 2001). Objective: to identify the traditional usages and evaluate for phytochemical screening of selected Zingiberaceae from Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Material and Methods: Zingiberaceae samples were collected from the Lore Lindu National Park (LLNP), Central Sulawesi Indonesia and its surroundings and evaluated for their phytochemical contents by using TLC method with particular spraying reagents. Results: the plants were used by the local ethnics for different daily and medicinal purposes. All part of each selected species of Zingiberaceae contain flavonoid, tannins, saponins, triterpenoid and alkaloid although steroids were only found in the leaves of Etlingera flexuosa, Curcuma mangga and Alpinia galanga. Alkaloids were only found in the rhyzome of Etlingera flexuosa, Curcuma aerugynosa, Zingiber montanum. Besides it was also detected in leaves of both Alpinia rubricaulis and Etlingera acanthoides. Additionally, Alkaloids were also discovered in the stem of Ammomum aculeata, Alpinia galanga and Curcuma mangga.

Correlation Study of Antioxidant Activity with Phenolic and Flavonoid Compounds in 12 Indonesian Indigenous Herbs

“…Herein, we selected the larger-the-better SN ratio approach to find the optimum conditions for AA (Figure 2). Ethanol concentration exhibited positive effect on higher AA (Figure 2A) was also obtained from previous AA compounds (phenolics, flavonoids, tannin, alkaloids) isolated from various samples such as the extraction of 93 Chinese medicines [3], Zingiberaceae species [11,20], Ipomoea batata leaves [12], and Algerian medicinal plants [22].…”

“…The calculated SN ratio of the AA response (Table 2) shows that the influence of solvent concentration has the main effect on the antioxidant activity of the sample, followed by the solid-to-liquid ratio (S-L) and the extraction time. Ethanol concentration exhibited positive effect on higher AA (Figure 2A) was also obtained from previous AA compounds (phenolics, flavonoids, tannin, alkaloids) isolated from various samples such as the extraction of 93 Chinese medicines [3], Zingiberaceae species [11,20], Ipomoea batata leaves [12], and Algerian medicinal plants [22].…”

“…This result was reached presumably because at higher concentration; the ability of ethanol to degrade the nonpolar cell walls via semipolar interactions was enhanced, leading to the increasing release of intracellular phenolic and flavonoid compounds. Ethanol was among the best extraction solvents irrespective of the extraction method [3,11,13,15,17], and increasing ethanol concentration generally led to higher TPC yield [13,15,17]. Longer extraction time exhibited a negative effect of lower AA (Figure 2B), which was presumably due to the resultant prolonged heat exposure leading to the decreasing amount of targeted AA compounds [21,24].…”

“…The Indonesian indigenous Zingiberaceae herb family is the most widely applied and known for its potency as a natural antioxidant. These plants contain mainly phenolics, terpenoids, and alkaloids [11,12]. Studies investigating Zingiberaceae as prospective antioxidant sources have increased significantly.…”

“…Studies investigating Zingiberaceae as prospective antioxidant sources have increased significantly. The antioxidant activity (AA) property of Zingiberaceae plants is related to their chemical composition primarily attributed to their richness in total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), terpenoids, alkaloids, and organic acids, with curcumin as the main antioxidant constituent in most of the plants from this family [3,11,13,14]. Ultrasonic extraction [15] is one of the prominent extraction techniques along with supercritical fluid extraction [16], microwave-assisted extraction [17], and hot water extraction [18].…”