Analysis of phytochemicals and evaluation of phenolic contents and antioxidant activities of Cissus javana

Abstract

Cissus javana belongs to the family Vitaceae growing in tropical forests and was collected from the Western Ghats of Karnataka and subjected to qualitative phytochemical analysis, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity.  In the present study, different parts like the fruit stemand leaves of  C. javanawere subjected to preliminary phytochemical analysis in different solvent extracts, which revealed the presence of reducing compounds, alkaloids, flavonoids,  tannins, sterols, terpenoids, glycosides, carbohydrates, resins, phenol, and proteins. The methanolic fruit extract of the sample showed the presence of most of the phytochemicals when compared to leaves and stem extracts of different solvents. The methanolic fruit extract showed a total phenolic content of about 2.94 mg of GAE, which is followed by leaves and stem 2.57 and 2.01mg GAE/g respectively.  Antioxidant activities of methanol extract showed dose-dependent activity, which increased with an increase in the concentration of the extract. Methanol fruit extract showed the highest free radical scavenging activity which was almost equal to the standard with the IC₅₀ value of 4.925 where the IC₅₀ value of ascorbic acid was found to be 3.389.  The present investigation provides insights into the phytoconstituents and antioxidant activities of fruit stem and leaf extracts of C. javana, so it can be further subjected to purification of compounds that may act as an alternative for the current synthetic compounds that are used as pharmaceuticals.