In vitro determination of the anti-aging potential of four southern African medicinal plants

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Werner Cordier¹  Vanessa Steenkamp¹  Malefa Tselanyane²  Gerda Fouche³  Gugulethu Ndlovu⁴ 

[1] Department of Pharmacology, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X323, (0007), Arcadia, South Africa;Molecular and Biomedical Technologies, Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, P.O. Box 395, (0001), Pretoria, South Africa;Natural Product Chemistry Group, Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, P.O. Box 395, (0001), Pretoria, South Africa;Natural Product Chemistry Group, Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, P.O. Box 395, (0001), Pretoria, South Africa;Department of Chemistry, University of Free-State, P.O. Box 339, (9300), Bloemfontein, South Africa;

关键词: Anti-aging;    Anti-collagenase;    Anti-elastase;    Anti-hyaluronidase;    Anti-oxidant;    Medicinal plants;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-13-304

 received in 2013-06-14, accepted in 2013-10-28,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAging is an inevitable process for all living organisms. During this process reactive oxygen species generation is increased which leads to the activation of hyaluronidase, collagenase and elastase, which can further contribute to skin aging. Four southern African medicinal plants; Clerodendrum glabrum, Schotia brachypetala, Psychotria capensis and Peltophorum africanum, were investigated to assess their anti-aging properties.MethodsAnti-elastase, anti-collagenase and anti-hyaluronidase activities of twenty-eight samples, consisting of methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of the four plants, were determined using spectrophotometric methods. Radical scavenging activity was determined by the ability of the plant extracts to scavenge the ABTS•+ radical.ResultsThe majority of the samples in the anti-elastase assay and nine in the anti-collagenase assay showed more than 80% inhibition. The ethyl acetate extract of S. brachypetala bark and leaves of P. capensis inhibited elastase activity by more than 90%. The methanol extract of S. brachypetala bark contained the highest anti-hyaluronidase activity (75.13 ± 7.49%) whilst the ethyl acetate extract of P. africanum bark exhibited the highest antioxidant activity (IC50: 1.99 ± 0.23 μg/ml).ConclusionThe free radical scavenging activity and enzyme inhibitory activity of the plant extracts investigated suggests that they can help restore skin elasticity and thereby slow the wrinkling process. P. africanum was the plant with the most promising activity and will be subjected to further testing and isolation of the active compound/s.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Ndlovu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013