In Vitro Biochemical Assessments of Methanol Stem Bark Extracts of Ficus Sycomorus Plant

Natural antioxidants are important in disease prevention and promotion of health. We determined antioxidants' activity using DPPH radical scavenging activity, Hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging activity and Ferric reducing antioxidants power. The extracts significantly (p< 0.05) exhibited strong antioxidants activities at concentrations (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mg/ml) compared to L-Ascorbic. Preliminary phytochemical screening showed the presence of tannins, saponnins, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenols and steroids while glycoside and proteins were absent. The extracts significantly (p< 0.05) exhibited a receptor binding affinity when estimated using hemolytic inhibition assay and hemagglutination inhibition assay at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mg/ml on human erythrocytes. Antibacterial activity (% Inhibition) was tested against five pathogenic organisms (E. coli, S. aureus, S. typhi, B. cereus and P. aeruginosa). The extracts significantly (p< 0.05) inhibited E. coli (30.82 ± 8.73) at 2 mg/ml, S. aureus (30.23 ± 6.56, 40.31 ± 2.88 and 43.38 ± 0.94) and S. typhi (30.49 ± 0.81, 36.99 ± 0.50 and 47.69 ± 1.02) at 2 mg/ml, 4 mg/ml and 6 mg/ml, respectively, and P. aeruginosa (41.82 ± 1.12, 49.02 ± 0.34, 56.03 ± 0.50, 69.90 ± 0.27 and 73.26 ± 0.43) at 2 mg/ml, 4 mg/ml, 6 mg/ml, 8 mg/ml and 10 mg/ml compared to standard drug. The standard drug significantly (p< 0.05) inhibited B. cereus (28.82 ± 0.80, 40.40 ± 0.40, 44.92 ± 1.20, 56.20 ± 2.52 and 62.72 ± 0.79) at 2 mg/ml, 4 mg/ml, 6 mg/ml, 8 mg/ml and 10 mg/ml compared to the stem bark extracts.