Volume 19, Issue 44, July - December, 2025

Antioxidant activity of Annona selegalensis - A medicinal plant collected from the Kingdom of Eswatini

Yende Lungile Happiness¹, Manoharan Karuppiah Pillai^1♦

¹Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science & Engineering, University of Eswatini, Kwaluseni Campus, Private Bag 4, Kwaluseni, M201, The Kingdom of Eswatini, Southern Africa

^♦Corresponding author
Manoharan Karuppiah Pillai, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science & Engineering, University of Eswatini, Kwaluseni Campus, Private Bag 4, Kwaluseni, M201, The Kingdom of Eswatini, Southern Africa

ABSTRACT

A. senegalensis (Annonaceae) is a medicinal plant and it finds widespread applications in the ethnomedicine in Africa. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the antioxidant activity, determine the IC50 values, determine total phenolic contents (TPCs), and determine total flavonoid contents (TFCs) of methanolic crude extract and fractions obtained from this crude extract of the stem-bark of A. senegalensis collected in the Kingdom of Eswatini. The methanloic crude extract was obtained by a combining maceration and hot solvent extraction techniques. n-Hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and methanol-water fractions were obtained using solvent-solvent partition technique. DPPH assay was employed to evaluate antioxidant potential. Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminium chloride colorimetric methods were employed to determine the TPCs and TFCs, respectively. At concentrations 200- 3000μg/mL, the DPPH radical scavenging potential of the crude extract, the four fractions, and the positive control (ascorbic acid) was determined as 11.90±0.36- 74.60±0.18%, 5.32±0.45-94.80±0.04%, and 54.81±036-89.61±0.18%, respectively. The IC50 values of the crude extract, the four fractions, and the positive control were determined as 945.80, 905.54, 1040.00, <200, 828.58, and <200μg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, the TPCs of the crude extract and the four fractions were determined as 144.17±7.60 and 62.55±3.84, 82.30 ±5.74, 100.30±4.50, and 157.04±1.70mg GAE/g DW, respectively. Similarly, the TFCs of the crude extract and the four fractions were determined as 130.27±7.78 and 44.09±5.14, 46.36±0.71, 115.18±5.09, and 139.54±8.69mg QE/g DW, respectively. The methanolic crude extract and its four fractions showed a moderate to significant radical scavenging activity. Notably, the ethyl acetate fraction was identified as the most potent and it showed relatively higher radical scavenging potential compared to the crude extract and the rest of the fractions. In addition, the methanolic crude extract and the four fractions possessed moderate to significant TPCs and TFCs. This study supported the traditional use of A. senegalensis. and further studies to develop antioxidant-based therapeutics from this plant are recommended.

Keywords: Annona senegalensis, Annonaceae, antioxidant activity, DPPH radical scavenging assay, IC50 values, total phenolic contents (TPCs), total flavonoid contents (TFCs).

Drug Discovery, 2025, 19(44), e26dd3029

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v19i44.e26dd3029

Published: 27 October 2025