ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF Elaeis guineensis LEAVES

Abstract

Fresh leaves from Elaeis guineensis fronds were subjected to ultrasonic-assisted methanol extraction. The crude methanolic extract (MeOH) ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF Elaeis guineensis LEAVES INTRODUCTIONThe oil palms (Elaeis) consist of two species of the family Arecaceae. They are commonly used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm Elaeis guineensis is native to West Africa, while the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera is native to tropical Central America and South America. Elaeis guineensis is widely cultivated in Malaysia for its oil producing fruits (Maclellan, 1983). Mature oil palm are single-stemmed, and grow to 20 m tall. The leaves are pinnate, and reach 3-5 m long. A young oil palm produces about 30 leaves in a year. Matured oil palm over 10 years produce about 20 leaves in a year. The flowers are produced in dense clusters; each individual flower is small, consist three sepals and three petals. The palm fruit is reddish, about the size of a large plum and grows in large bunches. Each fruit is made up of oily, fleshy outer layer (the mesocarp), with a single seed (the kernel), also rich in kernel oil. The palm fruit takes five to six months to mature after pollination. Palm oil is extracted from both the mesocarp of the fruit and the kernel. They are used for both food and non-food applications. Its increasing use in the commercial food industry is due to its economical pricing and the high oxidative stability of the refined products.In Malaysia, the oil palm cultivation area reached 5.47 million hectares as reported up to December 2016; produced 24.91 million tonnes of crude palm oil in the year to fulfil worldwide food and non-food demands (MPOB, 2017a). Total export of palm oil was 16.05 million tonnes in 2016, worth RM 43 369 million. Besides, there were also exports DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2017DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr. .2903 343

Flavonoid Composition and Pharmacological Properties of Elaeis guineensis Jacq. Leaf Extracts: A Systematic Review

“…In this study, the methanolic extracts exhibited significantly greater scavenging activities in comparison with the ethyl acetate extract, which correlated with the trend exhibited by their TPC values (Tables S1 and S2) [22]. Similar observations were also made by Hui et al (2017), whereby the stronger free radical scavenging activity of the methanolic OPLE was consistent with its higher TPC value, while the low phenolic content of the hexane extract resulted in the hexane extract being a weaker free radical scavenger (Tables S1 and S2) [2].…”

“…In an investigation by Hui et al (2017), the methanol and water extracts had higher TPC values compared to those of the ethyl acetate and hexane extracts [2]. Due to the presence of hydroxyl groups, phenolic compounds are hydrophilic and therefore can dissolve more efficiently in methanol and water.…”

“…The alcoholic and aqueous OPLE have been scientifically proven to possess numerous health benefits as they have been reported to exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities among which include antioxidant, wound healing, hypoglycemic, vascular relaxation, hypocholesterolemic, neuroprotective, neurogenesis, phytoestrogenic, osteogenic, fungicidal, antimicrobial, antihypertensive, cytotoxicity, and toxicity [2,4,5,11,14,[18][19][20][21][22][23]31,[44][45][46][47]. The pharmacological activities that will be discussed in the following sections have been summarized in Tables S1 and S2.…”

“…Both species are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. E. guineensis is the principal source of palm oil while E. oleifera is only cultivated for local palm oil production [1,2].…”

“…The oil palm tree is widely cultivated in Malaysia for its oil-producing fruits [2]. Malaysia is the world's second largest palm oil producer and the world's largest exporter to date [7].…”