Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jun 4;4(2):394-409.
doi: 10.3390/antiox4020394.

Comparative Analysis of Phenolics, Flavonoids, and Antioxidant and Antibacterial Potential of Methanolic, Hexanic and Aqueous Extracts from Adiantum caudatum Leaves

Dildar Ahmed  1 , Muhammad Mehboob Khan  2 , Ramsha Saeed  3
Affiliations

Comparative Analysis of Phenolics, Flavonoids, and Antioxidant and Antibacterial Potential of Methanolic, Hexanic and Aqueous Extracts from Adiantum caudatum Leaves

Dildar Ahmed et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

In the quest for new medicines, the methanolic, hexanic, and aqueous extracts of Adiantum caudatum leaves, obtained by Soxhlet extraction, were analyzed for phenolic and flavonoid contents, and antioxidant and antimicrobial potential. TPCs (total phenolic content) of the methanolic, aqueous and hexanic extracts were 27.7, 21.1, and 16.7 μg of gallic acid equivalents per mL, respectively, while TFCs (total flavonoid content) were 13.2, 11.6, and 10.0 μg of rutin equivalents per mL, respectively. Antioxidant activities of the extracts in reducing power, FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power), phosphomolybdate and ABTS assays follow the same order of methanolic ˃ aqueous ˃ hexanic. In the DPPH assay, however, the aqueous extract exhibited a slightly higher antioxidant activity than the methanolic one. Methanol is therefore a better solvent to extract most of the antioxidant components from A. caudatum leaves. In lipid peroxidation inhibitory assay, the extracts showed almost similar behavior and their activity decreased gradually with time. The aqueous extract was the strongest inhibitor after two days, but the hexanic became the most potent after about three days. The antibacterial potential of the extracts was determined against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Towards all the microbes, the aqueous extract was the most potent and the hexanic the least. P. aeruginosa was the most susceptible strain, while the aqueous and methanolic extracts exhibited a slightly higher efficacy against this pathogen than the drug amoxicillin. In conclusion, A. caudatum can potentially provide a remedy against disorders caused by oxidative stress and infections.

Keywords: Adiantum caudatum; Soxhlet extraction; antibacterial; antioxidant; flavonoids; phenolics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of different extracts of Adiantum caudatum expressed as μg GAE/mL and μg RE/mL, respectively (n = 3).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Reducing power assay of different extracts of Adiantum caudatum expressed as absorbance at 700 nm (n = 3).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) values of different extracts of Adiantum caudatum in terms of ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE) (n = 3).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Total antioxidant capacity of different extracts of Adiantum caudatum, according to phosphomolybdate assay, expressed as μg/mL of ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE), (n = 3).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Percent free radical scavenging activities of methanolic, hexanic and aqueous extracts (concentration 1 mg/mL) of Adiantum caudatum as per DPPH assay after an incubation of 30 min (n = 3).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Percentage radical scavenging activities of methanolic, hexanic and aqueous extracts (concentration 1 mg/mL) of Adiantum caudatum as per DPPH assay as a function of time for 30 min (n = 3).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Antioxidant capacity of the extracts of Adiantum caudatum as per ABTS•+ radical assay expressed as percentage activity (n = 3) as a function of concentration of extracts.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity of different extracts of Adiantum caudatum as a function of time (n = 3).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Zones of inhibition (mm) of different extracts of Adiantum caudatum at 40 mg/mL concentration against three bacterial strains in comparison with Amoxicillin (n = 3).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pan C., Chen Y.G., Ma X.Y., Jiang J.H., He F., Zhang Y. Phytochemical constituents and pharmacological activities of plants from the genus Adiantum: A review. Trop. J. Pharm. Res. 2011;10:681–692.
    1. Kumar N. Important medicinal plants of tehsil Joginder Nagar, district Mandi, H.P., India. Int. J. Res. Pharm. Biosci. 2014;4:15–21.
    1. Ibraheim Z.Z., Ahmed A.S., Gouda Y.G. Phytochemical and biological studies of Adiantum capillus-veneris L. Saudi Pharm. J. 2011;19:65–74. doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2011.01.007. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brahmachari G., Mondal S., Chatterjee D., Brahmachari A.K. Phytochemicals and biological activities of Adiantum species. J. Sci. Ind. Res. 2003;62:1119–1130.
    1. Kumar S., Saini M., Kumar V., Prakash O., Arya R., Rana M., Kumar D. Traditional medicinal plants curing diabetes: A promise for today and tomorrow. [(accessed on 2 June 2015)];Asian J. Tradit. Med. 2012 7:178–188. Available online: http://www.asianjtm.com/qikan/manage/wenzhang/AJTM2012,7(4)-5.pdf.

LinkOut - more resources