THE SURVEY ANTIOXIDANT EFFECTS OF STEM EXTRACTS FROM BITTER LEAF (Vernonia amygdalina L.)

Abstract

Bitter leaf is a medicinal plant widely used in folk medicine but little studied for the biological effects.
Antioxidant activities of stem extracts include n-hexane; chloroform; ethyl acetate; n-butanol; ethanol;
and water, determined by the free radicals reduction ability 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)
method and Fe3+ reduction capacity test. On the DPPH model with the best EC50 values of Ethyl
acetate and n-butanol, the EC50 values were 63.73µg/mL and 87.21µg/mL. On the Fe3+ reduction test
model with the best EC50 being Ethyl acetate, the EC50 value was 72.02µg/mL. Bitter leaf is a plant with
the potential for antioxidant capacity and hepatoprotective bioactivity..