Determination of Antioxidant Property and Minerals Contained in the Leaves of Azadirachta indica A. Juss.

• Autor(a) principal: Emerenciano, Denise Porfirio
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Cruz, Ângela Maria Fagundes da, Pereira, Joherbson Deivid dos Santos, Moura, Maria de Fátima Vitória de, Maciel, Maria Aparecida Medeiros
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Fitos
• Texto Completo: https://revistafitos.far.fiocruz.br/index.php/revista-fitos/article/view/182
• topic: Azadirachta indica; Propriedade Antioxidante; Minerais.

The pharmaceutical industry turned its attention to medicines of plant origin, which include plant extracts. In this context, it becomes significant to complete characterization of species for medical use, for example, Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (Meliaceae) popularly known as neem, a native plant of India, with significant medicinal applications. In this work, chemical and pharmaceutical aspects of this plant are discussed and, an antioxidant property and methods to determine micronutrients and macronutrients were applied to its leaves. The antioxidant property evaluation was realized by analysis of the hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves of A. indica (EAI) using the phosphomolybdenum method. Ascorbic acid was considered to be the maximal (100 %) antioxidant value. The obtained result for EAI was 26 % of the antioxidant activity of ascorbic acid, which can be explained by the presence of polar compounds such as azadirachtin, nimbin and salannin. The results for determination of humidity, ashes and minerals (calcium, lead, copper, chromium, iron, magnesium, manganese, nickel, potassium, sodium and zinc) in leaves of A. indica, were 68.0 % humidity, 12.3 % of ashes and among the mineral contents calcium showed the highest percentage (73.0 %), followed by potassium (15.0 %) magnesium (11.0 %), and sodium (1.0 %). Aspects correlated to percentages of minerals and the importances to the metabolism of plants are also discussed.