Determination of Total Phenolic and Total Flavonoid Content of the Extract of Astragalus davisii Chamb. & Matthews (Erek Geveni) Distributed in Van Province

ABSTRACT Medicinal plants have been used as the oldest healing method for human health in every society from the earliest civilisations to the present day. Archaeological findings from ancient times have shown that people primarily used medicinal plants to obtain nutrients and to eliminate health problems. Astragalus, which belongs to the Fabaceae (Legume) family, is one of the important plants used for therapeutic purposes in different parts of the world and whose use dates back more than 2000 years. It has been reported that Astragalus, which have medicinal importance, are widely distributed in our country and they show many biological activities such as immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antitumour, anticancer, antidiabetic, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, antiviral with their pharmacological properties. The aim of this study was to determine the total phenolic and total flavonoid contents of the extract obtained from the fruit of Astragalus davisii, which is distributed in Van Province. The plant material was collected in Bahçesaray District of Van Province. Folin-Ciocalteu reagent was used to determine total phenol content and AlCl3 reagent was used to determine total flavonoid content. The total phenolic content of the plant was 108.04 µg GAE/mg, the total flavonoid content was 728.71 µg QE/mg equivalent to quercetin and 33.33 µg CE/mg equivalent to catechin. The results obtained showed that the plant may have the potential to be used for medicinal purposes. Keywords: Astragalus davisii, Medicinal Plants, Phenolic, Flavonoid.