Free radical scavenging activity, kinetic behaviour and phytochemical constituents of Aristolochia clematitis L. roots

[Panciu Corina-Maria]

Aristolochia is the largest genus of the Aristolochiaceae family which is widespread throughout the North Africa and Europe Asia. In the traditional systems of Indian medicine, Aristolochia clematitis is used as stomachic, an astringent in dentistry, used against gastric disorders, headache, snake bite poisoning, toothache and fever. In addition, the decoctate of the plant is used for the treatment of the ulcer (Iserin et al., 2001). Furthermore, Theophraste (372-286 before J.-C.) reported that A. clematitis is popularly used for treating uterus dysfunction, snake bite, stomach complaints and the wound. Moreover, this plant is used for a long time as disinfectant and helps in childbirth. In South Algeria, and in addition to the medicinal uses of A. clematitis described above, the population uses this plant as antitumor and anticancer. Chemically, the plants of the genus Aristolochia L. are known to contain phenanthrene derivatives of which predominantly aristolochic acids cause fagocytosis of leukocytes and also reveal antitumour (Wall et al., 1987) and genotoxic (Mengs and Klein, 1988) activities. Moreover, phenylpropane derivatives (Lopes et al., 1987) and alkaloids belonging to bisbenzylisoquinoline and aporphine (Chakravarty et al., 1988, Rücker and Mayer, 1985) groups were reported in this family. The plant A. clematitis L. has been known to contain several constituents such as aristolochic acids, aristolactam N-ß-D-glucoside, magnoflorine iodide, aristolone, β-sitosterol, sitosterol β-D-glucoside, ferulic (4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic), 4-coumaric (4-hydroxycinnamic) acids, and methyl ester (Kostalova et al., 1991).

In vitro antioxidant activity was carried out with tannins and methanolic extracts by the DPPH free radical scavenging method. The IC50 value was determined for each extract. From the results of the DPPH method, it was found that tannin extract displayed strong antioxidant activity as ascorbic acid and methanolic extract. In this study, DPPH radical scavenging activity of tannins and methanolic extracts were applied to determine their kinetic behaviour. The tannin extract showed very fast kinetic action compared to the methanolic extract, which is probably a result of the different kinetic behaviour of antioxidants present in A. clematitis roots.

The main conclusion is that extracts under study are effective as scavengers of free radicals and can be used as a source of new low cost antioxidants.

In vitro antioxidant activity was carried out with tannins and methanolic extracts by the DPPHradical dot free radical scavenging method. The IC50 value was determined for each extract. From the results of the DPPH method, it was found that tannin extract displayed strong antioxidant activity as ascorbic acid and methanolic extract. In this study, DPPHradical dot radical scavenging activity of tannins and methanolic extracts were applied to determine their kinetic behaviour. The tannin extract showed very fast kinetic action compared to the methanolic extract, which is probably a result of the different kinetic behaviour of antioxidants present in A. clematitis roots. The main conclusion is that extracts under study are effective as scavengers of free radicals and can be used as a source of new low cost antioxidants.