IN VITRO STUDY ON ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY BY LEAVES OF MORINGA OLEIFERA CULTIVATED IN CUBA

Vivian Lago Abascal¹, Huynh Nha Van², Nguyen Linh Nhan², Tran Thi Thuy An²,

Nguyen Thi Thu Huong^2,*, Nguyen Minh Khoi²

¹Finlay Institute, Habana, Cuba

²Research Center of Ginseng and Medicinal Materials in Ho Chi Minh City-

Vietnam National Institute of Medicinal Materials

*Corresponding author: huongsam@hotmail.com

(Received May 11^th, 2013)

Summary

In vitro Study on Antioxidant Activity by Leaves of Moringa oleifera Cultivated in Cuba

Many studies reported that there was a correlation between extraction methods and antioxidant activity of Moringa oleifera. The present study was performed in leaves of M. oleifera cultivated in Cuba in order to investigate the above-mentioned correlation. Maceration and percolation methods were applied to obtain 70% ethanol extracts. The ethanol extracts were suspended in deionized water, and partitioned with diethyl ether and ethyl acetate, successively. Free radical scavenging activity (using DPPH test), iron chelating activity (using Ferrozine test), and lipid peroxidation inhibiting activity (using malondialdehyde test) of these extracts were elucidated. The results showed that M. oleifera leaves extracts has both scavenging and lipid peroxidation inhibiting activities. The ethyl acetate fraction derived from percolation extraction exhibited stronger antioxidant activity than that from maceration extraction.

Keywords: Cuba-originated Moringa oleifera leaves, Antioxidant activity.