Abstract
Zygophyllum cornutum is a plant growing in the northern Sahara of Algeria, belonging to Zygophyllaceae family. The antioxidant activities of four organic extracts (aqueous lyophilized extract, methanol extract, butanol extract and cyclohexane extract) of Z. cornutum leaves were investigated by DPPH test, ferric reducing activity and scavenging of superoxide radical (NBT test). In addition, polyphenols, flavonoids, tannins and anthocyanins were estimated by spectrophotometric methods.
The content of total phenols, flavonoids and tannins is highly detected in the methanol extract (183.22 mg Gallic acid equivalent/g, 101.13 Quercetin equivalent mg/g, 54.07 mg Tannic acid equivalent/g and 3.12 Cyanidin equivalent)/g, respectively) in comparison with the other extracts. The best DPPH scavenging activity was found in methanol extract followed by the cyclohexane extract (DPPH-IC50=15.36 µg/ml and 43.85 µg/ml, respectively), but remains less effective than the positive controls. These two extracts exhibited strong ferric reducing activity, with values of 16.96 mM and 16.33 mM, respectively. However, the best NBT-IC50 was obtained for the methanol extract (181.43 µg/ml).