Abstract

Ogunmoyole T ., Inaboya. S., Makun. J. O., and Kade. I. J.

In traditional medicine, several solvents like water, ethanol, limewater, coconut water and honey are used for extraction of phytochemicals. However, information on the solvent differential of these commonly used solvents in relation to their therapeutic effect is still poorly understood. Hence, the present study sought to evaluate the differential effect of water and ethanol which are commonly used for extraction in traditional medicine. The amount of some antioxidant agents such as phenols, flavonoids and vitamin C were determined in the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of the seed. In addition, the possible antioxidant mechanisms of the extracts were assessed by measuring their reducing property, iron (II) chelating ability and free radical scavenging properties. Furthermore, the ability of both extracts to inhibit lipid peroxidation and deoxyribose degradation was also measured. Generally, results showed that the phytochemical content of the ethanolic extract was significantly (P <0.05) higher than the aqueous. In a similar fashion, ethanolic extract exhibited stronger antioxidant potency than aqueous extract in all antioxidant indices determined. Taken together, ethanol exhibited a stronger solvent differential than water in the extraction of Monodora myristica seed. Hence, ethanol is better than water when full exploitation of the therapeutic potentials of Monodora myristica seed is intended