Antioxidant, Antibacterial, Total Phenolic and Flavonoid Contents of Sungkai Leaves (Paronema canescens)

Abstract

Indonesia is a tropical country with high biodiversity, so it is one of the potential countries for obtaining new bioactive compounds. Research on the search for bioactive compounds from traditional medicinal plants is growing, in line with ethnobotanical surveys of various ethnicities, especially in Indonesia. The survey reported that some plants have been used for treatment of diseases by the local community. Scientific assessment is needed for these medicinal plants. Additionally, many freely-sold herbal products attracts public interest for disease treatment due to their affordability, perceived efficacy and better tolerance compared to modern medicine. 1 However, some of these herbal products do not have well-documented scientific information. One of the herbs of traditional medicine is sungkai (Paronema canescens). Indonesian people traditionally use P. canescens to treat diseases, such as toothache, 2 fever, 3 stomach ache, skincare, after childbirth, 4 and malaria. 5 Its use as a medicine is especially prevalent in South Sumatra, where the community has additionally used sungkai leaves to treat warts, 6 and hypertension. 7 Based on literature studies, some scientific information about the chemical content and biological activity of the P. canencens plant has been reported. The phytochemical test of an ethanol extract of the sungkai plant was positive for steroidal, triterpenoid and phenolic compounds. 8 The compounds of these phenolic groups are antioxidant and have various biological activities, such as antibacterial, antidiabe-