Polyphenolic Content, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Less. Used in Folk Medicine in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Vernonia mespilifolia Less. is a shrub of the Asteraceae family used in the South African traditional medicine system for the management of weight loss, hypertension, and heartwater disease. There is a need for scientific evaluation to validate its ethnomedicinal usage. In vitro assays were conducte...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jeremiah Oshiomame Unuofin PhD, Gloria Aderonke Otunola PhD, Anthony Jide Afolayan PhD
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2018-05-01
Series:Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2515690X18773990
Description
Summary:Vernonia mespilifolia Less. is a shrub of the Asteraceae family used in the South African traditional medicine system for the management of weight loss, hypertension, and heartwater disease. There is a need for scientific evaluation to validate its ethnomedicinal usage. In vitro assays were conducted to evaluate the polyphenolic content, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of different solvent extracts (acetone, aqueous, and ethanol) of the whole plant of Vernonia mespilifolia spectrophotometric and agar dilution techniques, respectively. The result revealed varying amounts of polyphenolics in the different solvent extracts corresponding to the antioxidant activities. Also, only the acetone and ethanol extracts inhibited the growth of the selected bacteria and fungi. These findings reveal that the extracts have strong bioactive compounds and hence support its ethnomedicinal application.
ISSN:2515-690X