Phytochemical analysis and anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts of the african medicinal plant Ximenia caffra

A method was developed for identification and quantification of polyphenols in the leaves of ximenia caffra using hplc/uv/ms. based on analyzing the ms and uv data and in comparison to the authentic standards,a total of 10 polyphenols were identified and quantified,including gallic acid,catechin,quercetin,kaempferol,and their derivatives. the total content of these compounds was found to be approximately 19.45 mg/g in the leaf and the most abundant is quercetin-rutinoside (9.08 mg/g). the total phenolic content as measured by folin-ciocalteu assay was 261.87 ± 7.11 mg gae/g and the total antioxidant capacity as measured in vitro was 1.46 ± 0.01 mmol trolox/g. the antiproliferative effect of the leaf extract was measured by mts assay with ic50 value of 239.0 ± 44.5 g/ml. cell-based assays show that the leaf extract inhibits the mrna expression of proinflammatory genes (il-6,inos,and tnf-α) by using rt-qpcr,implying its anti-inflammatory effects. it was further demonstrated that the underlying therapeutic mechanism involves the suppression of nf-κb,a shared pathway between cell death and inflammation. © 2015 jing zhen et al.