Antioxidant properties of medicinal plants used in the Southern Ecuador

Resumen

In this research, 64 organic extracts from 37 species, belonging to 23 botanical families of plants used in the folk medicine of southern Ecuador was study. The extracts analysed were obtained with different solvents (methanol, n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate). The antioxidant activity was determined by two methods: DPPH and ABTS.+. The phenolic content of the extracts was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteau colorimetric technique. The species that showed the highest antioxidant activity, according to the IC50 values and the total phenolic content were Hypericum lancioides, Piper pseudochurumayo, Ludwigia peruviana, Sarcorhachis sydowii, Garcinia macrophylla, Clusia alata, Huperzia crassa and Fuchsia hybrida. The results obtained suggest that the good antioxidant activity described for these species could play an important role in the medicinal properties claimed for the plants under study and some of these plants could be useful in the food and pharmaceutical industries.