Phytochemical Constituents, Antioxidant Activity and Toxicity Assessment of the Seed of Spondias mombin L. (Anacardiaceae)

INTRODUCTION: Increased generation of free radicals exceeding the antioxidant capacity of the host is deleterious. Thus the search for new, potent and safe antioxidants will be a valuable addition to the limited antioxidant arsenals available. Therefore, the antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity potential and phytochemical constituents of the methanol extract of Spondias mombin seed (MESSM) were investigated.


METHODS: 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were the antioxidant assays used. Cytotoxicity of MESSM was evaluated against rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell line in a MTT based assay. Phytochemical constituents of MESSM were identified using GC-MS.

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RESULTS: MESSM produced better antioxidant activity in DPPH (IC50 = 58.64 ± 1.49 µg/mL) and H2O2 (IC50 = 44.03 ± 5.57 µg/mL) than in the NO (IC50 = 494.55 ± 12.68 µg/mL, p<0.0001) assays. Also, MESSM was non-toxic (CC50 = 139.6 ± 0.54 µg/mL) in comparison to cyclophosphamide (CC50 = 0.97 ± 0.03 µg/mL) against RD cell line. The major compounds in MESSM were dodecanoic acid (22.48%), tetradecanoic acid (17.95%), n-hexadecanoic acid (15.35 %), Capsaicin (12.11%) and dihydrocapsaicin (5.23 %).


DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The seed extract of S. mombin contains non-toxic antioxidant compounds that could be explored in pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries for development of antioxidant agents.