Abstract

Dzingirai, B. 2 , Muchuweti, M1 * , Murenje, T.1 , Chidewe, C.1 , Benhura, M.A. N and Chagonda, L. S2 .

Two commonly known medicinal plants from Zimbabwe were analyzed for total phenolic content, superoxide radical scavenging activity and the ability to inhibit lipid peroxidation in rat brain extracts. The plant samples used in this study were Elionurus muticus and Hypoxis hemerocallidea. The Folin Ciocalteu method was used to determine the total phenolic content. The total phenolic content was high in H. hemerocallidea which had 0.268 �?� 0.02 mg/100mg dry mass of plant extract and lowest in E. muticus root extract had 0.041 �?� 0.03 mg/100mg dry mass of plant extract. The scavenging activities on the superoxide ion of the plant extracts was dose dependent with maximum scavenging activity being obtained from E. muticus whole plant (69.12% �?� 0.12 at 80 mg/l) and the least activity were detected in H. hemerocallidea (52.92% �?� 0.95 at 80 mg/l). The plant extracts also gave a dose dependent protection against lipid peroxidation in rat brain homogenate with the highest protection detected from E. muticus whole plant and the least from H. hemerocallidea