Total Phenol amd Flavonoid contents of Crude Extract and Fractions of Picralima Nitida root bark TH. and H. Durand (Apoceanaceae)

Phenolic compounds are numerous in plants and are essential part of human diet. Picralima nitida has been extensively used in African folk medicine especially in West Africa. The present study evaluated the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the extract and fractions of Picralima nitida . The methanol extracts of P. nitida root bark and its fractions were evaluated for their phenolic contents using the Folin-Ciocalteu’s method. The total flavonoid contents were also determined using standard method. Statistical significance was established by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and differences between means were determined using Duncan’s multiple range (DMR) test. The results revealed that the crude methanol extract has a significantly higher concentration of total phenol and flavonoid compared to the fractions (P < 0.05). The total phenolic and flavonoid contents for the crude methanol extract were 94.92 ± 9.50 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g extract and 46.46 ± 3.30 mg quercetin equivalent (QE)/g extract respectively. The result obtained demonstrated that Picralima nitida root bark extract has a high content of phenol and method of extraction could be a major determinant of polyphenolic content. Keywords: Phenolic content, flavonoid, extraction, Picralima nitida Journal of Pharmaceutical and Allied Sciences Vol. 9 No. 3 (2012)