Abstract

Plants and their parts are a part of life in many brazilian communities, as observed in the jackfruit. The jackfruit seeds are consumed usually as roasted, boiled, steamed, and are eaten as a snack. The present study was carried out to identify the antioxidant, radical scavenging activity and total phenolic compounds of Artocarpus heterophyllus seeds using different screening tests. Total antioxidant activity was determined by ferric thiocyanate method (FTC), which was shortly followed by complexing of fosfomolybdenium method (FSB) determined in sequence with total reductive capability (TRC), hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity (HPS), DPPH free radical scavenging activity, and Total phenolic content (TPC) by Folin-Ciocalteu reagent assay method. The percentage of inhibition linoleic acid peroxidation by CEE (ethanolic extract), HF (hexanic extract), CHLF (chloroform extract) and EAF (ethyl acetate extract) (90.53, 70.23, 68.72 and 92.03%, respectively), in method using prussian blue antioxidant potential for EAF (89,05%) presented antioxidant activity greater than the standard rutin (82.3%). Highest total antioxidant activity was exerted by the ethanolic extract of A. heterophyllus seeds, and lowest by its EAF (188.83%). In evaluating the antioxidant activity by the hidrogen peroxide scavenging activity, it was observed that the CHLF and HF extracts showed scavenging activity above 50% (83.3 and 83.5%, respectively). The EC50 (free radical scavenger) values of CEE, HF, CHLF and EAF were 76.71, 399.64, 534.83 and 65.51 μg/ml, respectively, and the highest total phenolic content appeared to be present in 125 µg/ml of EAF. The results of all the sources were found to be highly significant. Further investigation for isolation and identification of the phytoconstituents responsible for antioxidant activity is desirable. A. heterophyllus seeds in the regular diets could improve the antioxidant status of human beings.

Key words: Jackfruit, antioxidant activity, DPPH radical, radical scavenging, seeds.