ZYGOPHYLLUM CORNUTUM: BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISATION OF FOUR LEAF EXTRACTS

Zygophyllum cornutum Coss. is a plant growing in the northern Sahara of Algeria, belonging to Zygophyllaceae family. The antioxidant activities of four organic extracts (aqueous lyophilized extract, methanol extract, butanol extract and cyclohexan extract) of Z. cornutum leaves were investigated by DPPH test, ferric reducing activity and scavenging of superoxide radical (NBT test). Also, the content of polyphenols, flavonoids, tannins and anthocyanins was estimated by spectrophotometric methods. The content of total phenols, flavonoids and tannins is highly detected in the methanol extract (183.22 mg Gallic acid equivalent/g, 101.13 Quercetin equivalent mg/g, 54.07 mg Tannic acid equivalent/g and 3.12 Cyanidin equivalent)/g, respectively) was higher than those detected in the other extracts. The best DPPH scavenging activity was found in methanol extract followed by the cyclohexan extract (DPPH-IC50=15.36 μg/ml and 43.85 μg/ml, respectively), but remains less effective than the positive controls. These two extracts showed a very good ferric reducing activity (16.96 mM and 16.33 mM, respectively). However, the highest NBT-IC50 was obtained for the methanol extract (181.43 μg/ml).