ABSTRACT
Picralima nitida, a member of the Apocynaceae family, is a well-known medicinal herb in Africa. It is commonly harvested from the wild for local medicinal purposes. All parts of the plant possess a bitter taste, and its seeds, bark, and roots are recognized for their fever-relieving and antimalarial properties. Moreover, they are frequently utilized for pain relief, acting as both a purgative and a febrifuge. Flavonoids, a category of organic compounds with diverse phenolic structures, are naturally present in plants, including fruits, vegetables, grains, bark, roots, stems, flowers, tea, and wine. The health benefits associated with these natural products are widely acknowledged. There is ongoing effort to extract flavonoids from plants for their beneficial applications. In the field of medicine, flavonoids are now considered essential due to their capacity to regulate the activity of crucial cellular enzymes, along with their antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, and anti-carcinogenic properties. Current trends in flavonoid research and development focus on the isolation, characterization, identification, and functions of flavonoids, exploring their applications for enhanced health. This study specifically aimed to assess the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the total flavonoid composition in Picralima nitida stem bark. The results revealed higher flavonoid contents in the Ethanolic Extract compared to the Aqueous extract.
