GC-MS profiling, In vitro antioxidant and antiurolithiatic potential of ethanol leaf extract of Spermacoce articularis L.f. Gopika S., Vasandhlakshmi R., Nisha M.K.* Department of Botany, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore-641043, Tamil Nadu, India *Corresponding author e-mail: nisha_bot@avinuty.ac.in
Online published on 26 December, 2023. Abstract The whole part of the plant or the bioactive compounds isolated from plants act as complementary and substitute medicine for various health ailments. The present study was designed to identify and evaluate the chief phytochemical constituents of ethanol leaf extract of Spermacoce articularis L.f., its antiurolithiatic activity, and antioxidative activity against free radicals. S. articularis is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Rubiaceae, with many ethnomedicinal uses. Phytochemical screening of ethanol leaf extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannin, terpenoids, saponin, volatile oil, vitamin C, flavonoid, phenol, quinone, anthocyanin, carbohydrates, and acidic compounds. The quantitative analysis reported that the ethanol leaf extract exhibited the maximum total alkaloid content of 31.38±0.014 mg AE/g followed by tannin of 31.27±0.245 mg TAE/g, polyphenol of 16.73±0.051 mg GAE/g, ascorbic acid of 15.28±0.004 mg AA/g and terpenoid of 11.01±0.004 mg linalool/g. The extract showed a phenol content of 23.63±0.004 mg GAE/g and a flavonoid of 101.5±0.007 mg RE/g. The plant extracts and their overall phenolic and flavonoid contents showed significant antioxidant activity through DPPH free radical scavenging assay, ferric reducing power assay (FRAP), and ABTS radical scavenging activity. IC50 values obtained by DPPH activity of S. articularis ethanol leaf extract was found to be 23.55±1.270 μg AA/ ml, reducing power was found to be 37.49±0.132 μg GAE/ml and ABTS was 22.47±0.637 μg GAE/ml. Gas chromatographymass spectrometry results revealed the presence of 12 major phytoconstituents in the ethanol leaf extract with the help of peak area (%) and retention time. S. articularis ethanol leaf extract can inhibit the nucleation of CaOx crystals, from the results obtained, it is observed that standard cystone showed the highest inhibition of 65.22±0.003% at 600 μg/ml, whereas the ethanol leaf extract showed the inhibition effect of 18.2±0.001% at 600 μg/ml. The findings of the study revealed that the leaves of S. articularis contains various phytochemicals which is responsible for diverse medicinal potential of this plant. Top Keywords Spermacoce articularis L.f., Antioxidant, Antiurolithiatic, GCMS, Phytoconstituents. Top |