Abstract

The ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and total phenolic concentration of the leaf, stem and root barks of Magnifera indica and Azadirachta indica growing in Ogbomoso, Nigeria were evaluated in vitro. Only the leaf of A. indica belonged to good FRAP. Both the stem and root bark of A. indica and all the parts of M. indicainvestigated belonged to high FRAP. Experimental results revealed that the antioxidant capacity ranged from 6.80 - 9.20, 12.40 - 13.00 and 10.20 -13.203 mM of reduced Fe³⁺ for the leaf, stem and root bark, respectively in A. indica. In M. indica, the antioxidant capacity ranged from 12.20 - 15.20, 11.00 - 11.80 and 11.20 - 12.20 mM of reduced Fe³⁺ for the leaf, stem and root bark, respectively. The total phenolic concentration and antioxidant capacity of M. indica stem bark showed a high significant positive correlation (r = 0.9439; p = 0.05). The total phenolic concentration of the root bark of A. indica showed a high positive significant correlation with antioxidant capacity (r= 0.9850; p= 0.05). All the plant parts examined might be exploited in clinical medicine as protective factors because of their good and high antioxidant capacities.

Key words: Ethno-medicine, natural product, drug development, plant phenolics.