Screening of Fifty Cunoniaceae Species from New Caledonia for Inhibitors of Xanthine Oxidase and Scavengers of Superoxide Anions

Two-hundred-and-four extracts (101 ethyl acetate extracts and 103 methanol extracts) from 50 species of Cunoniaceae from New Caledonia were screened for antioxidant properties due to free radical scavenging and/or xanthine oxidase (XOD) inhibitory activity. Of the crude extracts, 95.1% were active at a concentration of 50µg/ml. Fifteen (27.8%) extracts showed more than 50% activity at 10µg/ml and were studied for XOD inhibition. All were active against XOD at 50µg/ml but only 6 (40%) showed up to 60% inhibition. Ethyl acetate extracts from the bark of Weinmannia dichotoma Brongniart & Gris, Weinmannia monticola Däniker and Cunonia linearisepala (Guillaumin) Bernardi and from the roots of Codia incrassata Pampanini, as well as methanol extract from the bark of Pancheria brunhesii Pampanini, exhibited the highest activities (between 70% and 86% XOD inhibition at 50µg/ml). In view of these preliminary results, New Caledonian Cunoniaceae species appears to be promising material for the isolation of bioactive compounds.