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ABSTRACT
Ficus exasperata is widely used in traditional medicine.Several parts of the plant has been used for the treatment of various ailment. These properties are due to the phytochemicals present, antioxidants activity and anti-inflammatory properties of Ficus exasperata. Antioxidants has the ability to eliminate free radicals or block oxidants scavenging.Natural antioxidants are required to prevent and/or cure the disorders caused by free radicals. The free radicals are highly reactive chemical species that are harmful to the body and are the cause of the progression of many disease. This study is aimed to determine the in vitro antioxidant activity of the methanol, ethanol and aqueous leave extract of Ficus exasperata using several antioxidant assays such as total antioxidant capacity assay, nitric oxide scavenging activity assay and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance assay.The total antioxidant capacity of the extract was determined using the Prieto et al.(1999) method, the method of Garrat (1964) was followed to determine the nitric oxide scavenging activity of the methanol, ethanol and distilled water extract of Ficus exasperata and the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) was estimated according to the method of Ohkowa et al. (1979). Comparing methanol, ethanol and aqueous extract of the leave of Ficus exasperata for Nitric oxide and total antioxidant capacity and thiobarbituric acid activity, it was shown that the aqueous extract of the plant contained high radical scavenging activity and high antioxidant content, followed by ethanol extract. The p value for methanol, ethanol and aqueous extract when compared with ascorbic acid for total antioxidant capacity assay is 0.027, 0.038 and 0.013 respectively, for the nitric oxide scavenging activity assay the p value for the methanol, ethanol and aqueous extract when compared with quercetin is 0.019, 0.016 and 0.016 and for the thiobarbituric acid reactive substance assay the p value for the methanol ethanol and aqueous extract when compared with ascorbic acid is 0.007, 0.005 and 0.005 respectively. The antioxidant activities of methanol, ethanol and aqueous leave extract of Ficus exasperata determined by the total antioxidant capacity assay, nitric oxide scavenging activity assay and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance assay produced concentration-dependent values comparable to that of the standard.
