Radical scavenging effects of fruit extracts from two Ficus species

Ficus gnaphalocarpa L. and Ficus dekdekena (Miq.) A.Rich. belong to the well-known plants of Moraceae family growing in tropical regions. Their fruits are traditionally used as dietary wild fruits in West africa [1]. The aim of our study was to evaluate the in vitro radical scavenging activities (RSA) of these Ficus fruits hydroalcoholic extracts, using two different free radicals: hydroxyl radical (HO · ) and superoxide anion (O 2 · – ). At doses of 100 and 25µg.mL -1 the percentage of inhibition of O 2 · – values obtained for extracts were 61,41 and 24,02 for F. dekdekena , 23,3 and 31,77 for F. gnaphalocarpa respectively. At 10 and 2µg.mL-1 the percentage of inhibition of OH · values obtained for extracts were 88,37 and 52,51 for F. dekdekena , 87,09 and 50,28 for F. gnaphalocarpa , respectively Preliminary phytochemical investigation of the fruit extracts using HPLC-DAD and LC-MS showed the presence of protocatechuic acid, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, homo-orientin, rutin, hyperoside, catechin, epicatechin and other catechin derivatives well known as radical scavenging compounds [2]. These results suggest that F. dekdekena and F. gnaphalocarpa fruits possess radical scavenging activity, wich could be attributed to the presence of phenolic compounds.