Zygophyllum Geslini Coss : Biochemicals and Antioxidant Activity

Zygophyllum geslini Coss. is an endemic plant growing wild in the northern Sahara of Algeria, belonging to Zygophyllaceae family. The antioxidant activities of the aqueous lyophilized extract and the methanolic extract of Z. geslini leaves were investigated by DPPH test and ferric reducing activity. Also, the content of polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins and tannins was estimated by spectrophotometric methods. The content of total phenols, flavonoids and tannins is highly detected in the methanol extract (183,22 mg GAE/gDE, 101,13±0,02 QE mg/gDE, 54,07±0,98 mg TA/gDE respectively) was higher than those detected in aqueous lyophilized extract, it may be responsible for the good activities of this plant. The best DPPH scavenging activity was found in the methanol extract followed by the aqueous lyophilized extract (IC50=65,36 and 67,44µg/ml, respectively), but sties less effective than the positive controls. This two extracts showed a very good ferric reducing activity, better than positive controls (BHT and gallic acid).