Medicinally active principles analysis of Tephrosia apollinea (Delile) DC. growing in the United Arab Emirates

BACKGROUND: Tephrosia apollinea is a leguminous plant and is native to southwest Asia, Arabia, northwestern India and northeast Africa. In traditional system, it is used for medicinal and coloring purpose. The present study aims to explore the phytochemical, proximate analysis, element contents and antioxidant potential of T. apollinea extract. METHODS: The phytochemical screening was done with qualitative methods. Proximate analysis and elemental composition were performed from powdered sample. In vitro antioxidant assays such as 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals and reducing power-scavenging assays were used for evaluating the antioxidant properties. RESULTS: Qualitative screening of methanolic extract of T. apollinea showed the presence of alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, glycosides and saponins. The methanolic extract of T. apollinea exhibited a significant dose dependent inhibition of DPPH activity, with a 50% inhibition (IC(50)) at a concentration found to be 29.41 µg/ml, which was compared with standard GAE (IC(50) = 31.09 μg/ml). The reducing power shows good linear relationship in both standard gallic acid (R(2) = 0.956) and T. apollinea extract (0.984). CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study clearly suggested that the methanolic extract of T. apollinea may serve as potential source of natural antioxidant for nutraceutical application.