Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of the Leaf and Stem Extracts of <i>Combretum molle</i> (R. Br. ex G. Don.) Engl. & Diels

Abstract

Medicinal plants offer reasonable and accessible alternatives to synthetic drugs and are often devoid of the adverse side effects, toxicity, and pathogenic resistance associated with synthetic medicine. Combretum molle has been utilized in African traditional medicinal practices and purportedly contains bioactive compounds with medicinally beneficial effects. This study investigated the hexane, chloroform, and methanol leaf and stem extracts for their antioxidant properties using the 2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging and ferric-reducing antioxidant power assays. The study additionally analyzed the methanol extracts for their antibacterial activity against Gram-negative Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) bacteria using agar well diffusion. Relative to the scavenging activity of the ascorbic acid control (79.15 ± 0.63% at 15 µg/mL to 94.61 ± 0.12% at 240 µg/mL), the plant’s radical scavenging activities were exceptionally high in the methanolic leaf and stem extracts (p p p p C. molle exhibited similar antioxidant and antibacterial activities. These findings warrant further pharmacological research on C. molle for potential drug development.

Keywords

• medicinal plants
• radical scavenging activity
• ferric-reducing antioxidant power
• agar well diffusion