Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Ultrasonic-assisted extraction and evaluation of biological activities of flavonoids from Flemingia philippinensis Merr et Rolfe

Hua Li, Qiyu Lu, Ke Bian

Department of Food Science, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, China;

For correspondence:- Ke Bian Email: lixian78101@163.com Tel:+8637167758022

Received: 18 March 2015 Accepted: 28 June 2015 Published: 30 August 2015

Citation: Li H, Lu Q, Bian K. Ultrasonic-assisted extraction and evaluation of biological activities of flavonoids from Flemingia philippinensis Merr et Rolfe. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(8):1365-1371 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i8.7

© 2015 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To develop a simple and rapid method for extracting total flavonoids from the roots of Flemingia philippinensis and to investigate the antioxidant and anti-tumor activities of the extracts of the materials from various locations in China.

Methods: The total flavonoids in F. philippinensis were obtained by ultrasonic-assisted conventional solvent extraction method, and the extraction conditions were optimized by single factor and orthogonal test. 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and anti-tumor activities, using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, of the extract were evaluated. The contents of flemiphilippinin A, auriculasin, 5,7,3',4'-tetrahydroxy-6,8 –diprenylisoflavone and dorsmanins I were also determined.

Results: Optimal extraction conditions were as follows: extraction time, 40 min; methanol concentration, 85 %; and solvent to solid ratio, 40 mL/g; and number of extraction, once. Total flavonoid content varied greatly (3.7 - 14.35 %) among the 19 samples collected from different origins in China. Flemiphilippin A, 5,7,3',4'- tetrahydroxy-6,8 -diprenylisoflavone, auriculasin and dorsmanins I showed varying DPPH radical scavenging activities with effective half maximal concentration (EC₅₀) of 18.36, 23.59, 57.25 and 63.54 µg/mL, respectively. Flemiphilippinin A (5 µg/mL) also exhibited some level of antitumor activity against human hepatocellular carcinoma cell (BEL-7402), human lung epithelial (A-549) and human ileocecal adenocarcinoma cell (HCT-8) with inhibition of 91.13 ± 1.6, 91.22 ± 3.23, and 79.77 ± 3.57 %, respectively.

Conclusion: Total flavonoids can be extracted efficiently from F. philippinensis by ultrasonic-assisted extraction method. Flemiphilippinin A has a potential for use in medicine as an antioxidant and antitumor drug.

Keywords: Flemingia philippinensis, Flemiphilippinin A, Ultrasonic-assisted extraction, Flavonoids, Antioxidant, Antitumor