In vitro evaluation of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the hydroalcoholic extract and its fractions from Leuzea conifera L. roots

This is the first study on the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Leuzea conifera (Asteraceae). The objective of this study is to evaluate in vitro the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities and to determine total phenols, total flavonoids content of different organic extracts of Leuzea conifera roots. The in vitro antioxidant activity of the extracts were examined by three different methods, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), b-carotene and cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC). The in-vitro anti-inflammatory activity of Leuzea conifera was determined by protein denaturation method. In three methods tested to evaluate the antioxidant activity, ethyl acetate fraction displayed the highest antioxidant capacity (IC50 value: 23.26 ± 0.36 µg/mL in DPPH assay, IC50 value: 7.24 ± 0.25 µg/mL in β-Carotene-linoleic acid assay, and A0.50 value: 11.25 ± 0.27 µg/mL in CUPRAC). In this extract, the amount of total phenolics and total flavonoids were very high (344.98 ± 0.28 mg gallic acid equivalent/g, 186.94 ± 0.33 mg quercetin equivalent/g respectively). As for anti-inflammatory essay, ethyl acetate fraction has good activity (97.48 ± 0.68). Organic extracts of Leuzea conifera roots showed better anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, essentially for the ethyl acetate fraction.