Ma. Victoria Zarate Elloran (April 2003)
Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus – Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PSHS WVC), Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines
ABSTRACT
Crude methanolic extracts of the leaves of “Alibutbut” (Tabernaemontana pandacaqui Poir), “Alugbati” (Basella rubra Linn.), “Katakataka” (Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) Kurz), and “Lapunaya” (Coleus blumei Benth.) were screened for their anti-inflammatory activities. All plant extracts had anti-inflammatory activites but the extract of “Alibutbut” plant gave the highest result with the average percent inhibition of 68.55%. Thin layer chromatography profile of crude methanolic extract gave ten (10) spots using n-hexane:dichloromethane:ethyl acetate (3:5:3) as solvent system and vanillin-H2SO4 as the visualizing agent. The fractionation and isolation of the bioactive constituent were conducted to crude methanolic extract of “alibutbut”. Fractionation of the extract using the liquid-liquid extraction with solvents of increasing polarity (n-hexane, dichloromethane, and ethyl acetate) was used. All fractions obtained from liquid-liquid extraction gave an anti-inflammatory activity. The n-hexane extract had the highest result with the average percent inhibition of 53.90%. The complexity of the n-hexane extract was further reduced using the vacuum liquid chromatography. Six fractions (F-A, F-B, F-C, F-D, F-E, and F-F) from VLC were subjected to anti-inflammatory assay. All fractions exhibited anti-inflammatory activity. Fraction F-A gave the highest average percent inhibition of 68.25%. TLC profile of the fraction was determined using the n-hexane:dichloromethane:ethyl acetate (3:5:3) and vanilin-H2SO4 as the visualizing agent. A single violet spot developed, with the Rf value of 0.76. It is the indication of the presence of terpene. A two-dimensional TLC was also made on F-A to confirm whether there is a single spot obtained. The same solvent system with the ratio of (3:4:2) and using vanilin-H2SO4 as the visualizing agent, confirmed a single violet spot which could be a terpene.