Background:
Ficus carica and Olea europaea are two medicinal plants which are widely
distributed in Algeria, and used in food and traditional medicine.
Objective:
The objective of this work is the evaluation of the antioxidant capacity of different extracts
of F. carica and O. europaea, for ends of flora valorization in Algeria.
Methods:
The dried leaves of the concerned plants Ficus carica and Olea europaea were submitted to
sequential extraction with solvents of increasing polarity to give hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and
methanolic extracts. The total phenolic and flavonoids were determined spectrophoto-metrically. The
antioxidant activity of extracts was evaluated using 1,1’-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicalscavenging
and ferric reducing power test.
Results:
The results of the quantitative analysis show that the Methanolic Extract (ME) gives the
highest yield with 16.43% and 19.98% for F. carica and O. europaea respectively. The analysis show
that the highest amount of phenolic compounds was recorded in the ME of O. europaea (171.40±6.79
µg GAE/ mg E), when the the highest amount of flavonoids was recorded in the CHE of the F. carica
(34.06± 0.05 µg QE/ mg E). In addition, the results show that the Ethyle Acetat Extract (EAE) exhibit
the highest antiradical activity against DPPH free radical with an EC50=45.21±1.12 and 8.20±0.37
µg/ml for F. carica and O. europaea, respectively. Moreover, the EAE of the two plants present the
highest reducing effect compared to other extracts at concentration of 200 µg/ml.
Conclusion:
The obtained results revealed the presence of a strong correlation between the antioxidant
activity of the extract and its total phenolic content. Furthermore, they reported that the EAE have
a considerable antioxidant capacity. This can be considered as an alternate natural source of antioxidants
used generally as additives in food and pharmaceutical preparation.
Phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity and inhibitory potential of Ficus carica and Olea europaea leaves
