Antiradical activity, total phenolic, and total flavonoids extract and fractions of pumpkin (Cucurbita moshata Duch) leaves

Abstract

Pumpkin (Cucurbita moshata Duch) is one of the Cucurbitaceae plants, which traditionally used to treat skin diseases, measles, jaundice, insomnia, cancer and enhances endurance. Therefore, it was necessary to explore the potential of pumpkin leaves as antiradical. This research aim was to examine the antiradical activity and total phenolic and total flavonoids of pumpkin leaves extract and its fractions using the DPPH method and determined the phenolic and flavonoid contents. Pumpkin leave powder was extracted with methanol. Furthermore, water was added into methanol extract, and be partitioned using n-hexane and ethyl acetate to obtain n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and water fractions. The antiradical activities of pumpkin leave extract and fractions were determined using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhidrazyl) method. Ethyl acetate fraction obtained higher antiradical activities (IC50 6.737±0.196 µg/mL). Correlation of total phenolic and flavonoid contents to inhibit DPPH radical showed that phenolic and flavonoid contents on pumpkin leaves could be inhibited DPPH radical R2 = 0.8994 and R2 = 0.9061, respectively. Extracts and fraction pumpkin leaves show strong antiradical activity with DPPH methods, so their potential as antiradical can developed and can be used as a functional food.