Phytochemical constituents and free radical scavenging activity of fresh and dried samples of Curculigo pilosa (Schum. & Thonn.) Engl. (Hypoxidaceae)

Abstract

Curculigo pilosa (Schum. & Thonn) Engl. is a tropical African flowering plant belonging to the family Hypoxidaceae. It is a highly valued medicinal plant used in traditional medicine to treat constipation, impotence, limb limpness, arthritis, knee joints, and watery diarrhea. It is also used as a potent immunomodulator and aphrodisiac. The aim of this study is to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and free radical scavenging activity of the fresh and dried samples of C. pilosa. Fresh plant samples were purchased from herbal market at Iyana-Iba market in Ojo local government area. Some of the samples were oven dried at 30 oC to get the dried sample. Phytochemical analysis was carried out using standard laboratory procedures while ferric reducing power, nitric oxide and DPPH scavenging assays were used to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the samples. Both dried and fresh samples contained phenols, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids and cardiac glycosides. Tannins was present in the extracts except the aqueous extract of the dried sample while terpenoids was present only in the acetone extract of the fresh and dried sample but absent in the aqueous extract of both samples. Fresh sample contained the highest amount of phytochemicals in both extracts. The amount of phenols in aqueous and acetone extracts of the fresh sample was 68.51 mg g-1 and 80.94 mg g-1 respectively. Fresh samples exhibited higher scavenging activity than the dried sample. Fresh sample of C. pilosa contained more phytochemicals and exhibited higher free radical scavenging activity than the dried sample.