Insight into the antioxidant activities of ten Fabaceae plant species that are medicinally used by the Aucan Tribal Peoples from the Republic of Suriname (South America)

TL;DR

This study evaluates antioxidant and phenolic properties of ten Fabaceae plants used by the Aucan people in Suriname, finding significant variation in their health benefits.

Contribution

The study identifies four Fabaceae species with high antioxidant and phenolic content, suggesting their potential therapeutic value.

Findings

Four Fabaceae species (I. stipularis, C. guyanensis, A. jupunba, M. urens) showed high antioxidant activity and phenolic content.

Other species had antioxidant and phenolic values more than tenfold lower.

Antioxidant activity, total phenolics, flavonoids, and selenium content correlated strongly with each other.

Abstract

Fabaceae are associated with a high antioxidant activity (AA) and a high total phenolic (TPC), total flavonoid (TFC), and selenium content (SeC). In this study, the aqueous extracts from ten Fabaceae species that are medicinally used by the Aucan Tribal Peoples from Suriname (South America), were evaluated for AA using a DPPH and a FRAP assay, and for TPC, TFC, and SeC using Folin-Ciocalteu’s, an AlCl3 colorimetric, and an azure B-based method. Associations between pairs of these variables were determined by Pearson correlation coefficient. One-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey’s test was used to evaluate the data for statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). The I. stipularis (bark), C. guyanensis (bark), A. jupunba (twigs), and M. urens (fruit) extracts had the highest DPPH IC50 values (36 – 70 μg/mL) and FRAP values (346 – 573 μM FeE/100 μg) and the highest TPC (25 – 41 GAEq/100 μg), TFC (21 – 39 REq/100 μg), and SeC (4 −17 μg/g). The values for the T. indica (leaf), P. macroloba (bark), M. pigra (whole plant), S. quinquangulata (leaf), A. sensitiva (whole plant), and L. leucocephala (leaf) extracts were > 10-fold lower. AA, TPC, TFC, and SeC correlated well with each other (correlation coefficient ≥ 0.83, p ≤ 0.0030). Thus, AA, TPC, TFC, and SeC may represent important determinants of the health benefits of the former four samples but not of the others. Future studies should focus on the precise contribution of AA, TPC, TFC, and SeC to the therapeutic value of medicinal Fabaceae.

Figures