ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY OF EXTRACTS OBTAINED FROM LEAVES OF Senecio rufescens DC.

Abstract

Senecio rufescens DC. is a South American Andean plant traditionally used to treat “altitude sickness” and gastrointestinal ailments. In the process of adaptation to extreme conditions, it developed its ability to biosynthesize secondary metabolites of great therapeutic importance such as phenolic compounds. Therefore, this research was developed with the objective of determining of total phenols, flavonoids, flavonols and the antioxidant capacity of the methanolic extract of the leaves and its fractions of n - hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanolic, respectively. The methanolic fraction showed the highest content of total phenols (149,81 ± 5,02 GAE/g of extract), flavonoids (47,33 ± 2,27 QE/g of extract) and flavonols (14,34 ± 0,69 QE/g of extract) (p <0,05), while, its antioxidant capacity (529,80 ± 14,30; 444,38 ± 11,31; 406,86 ± 24,58 μmoles ET/g of extract, for the DPPH, ABTS and FRAP tests, respectively) was higher than the other fractions (p <0,05). It is concluded that the methanolic fraction of the methanolic extract was shown to have a high content of total phenols, flavonoids and flavonols, as well as a high antioxidant capacity, respectively.