Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Evaluation of Ficus carica Whole Fruit Extracts from Kalar Kahar, Pakistan
Keywords:
Ficus carica, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, organic extracts, phenolic compoundsAbstract
Background: Ficus carica, or fig, is the most widely consumed edible fruit. The plant is having rich history of use in traditional medicine due to its innumerable health benefits including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer and antidiabetic properties. Fig having high amount of phenolic compounds (flavonoids, anthocyanins), prenylated isoflavone derivatives that exhibit strong medicinal properties.
Objectives: This study focused on the Black Mission fig variety, which is well grown in Pakistan. The research aimed to explore its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties from different organic solvent extracts of ripened fig fruit.
Methodology: Fresh figs were sourced from a farms Kalar kahar, and four organic solvents (hexane, ethanol, butanol, ethyl acetate and distilled water extracts were prepared from oven-dried crushed fruit. The extracts were assessed for total phenolic content using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. Their antioxidant activity was assessed using DPPH free radical scavenging assay against Ascorbic acid as reference, while inflammatory controlling potential was evaluated through inhibition of egg proteins’ denaturation against diclofenac sodium (standard drug).
Results: Phenolic compounds analysis of all extracts revealed that ethyl acetate extract possessed high phenolic compounds content (368.7 GAE/gm) suggested the presence of abundant amount of these compounds. Among all selected extracts, ethyl acetate extract (25 μg/mL) exhibited the highest antioxidant activity (77.36%) in comparison to ascorbic acid (84.12%) by DPPH assay. Ethyl acetate (10 μg/mL) inhibited the inflammatory response (77.5%) in comparison to diclofenac sodium (89.9%) using protein denaturation assay. Strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory response of local variety of fig fruit was observed in ethyl acetate extract due to potential phenolic molecules and supporting its therapeutic potential.
Conclusion: All of these findings point to the need for further investigation of the extracted compounds from ethyl acetate extract using advanced biological techniques and wet lab experiments to comprehend the biological functions of these molecules in medicinal field.
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