Potential of natural phenolic antioxidant compounds from Bersama abyssinica (Meliathacea) for treatment of chronic diseases

Chronic diseases including cardiovascular, diabetes and cancer persist for a long time in the course of treatment affecting health and are currently the cause of many deaths. In most cases, the treatment of chronic infectious diseases especially Tuberculosis relies on conventional drugs which are currently becoming fruitless due to drug resistance and unpredicted complications in course of treatment. However, herbal medicines have for a long time been used in prevention and treatment of chronic diseases including asthma and heart diseases in Africa. In this study, we extracted metabolites and screened for active compounds with potential free radical scavenging and pharmacological activities from Bersama abyssinica, the plant commonly used in traditional medicine in Tanzania. B. abyssinica root, stembark and leaf were air dried, sequentially extracted in various solvents including petroleum ether, dichloromethane, ethylacetate and methanol to yield extracts and fractions. The extracts and fractions were tested for the presence of several metabolites and antioxidant activity. The analysis of chemical compounds from resultant extracts was done by GC-MS for non-polar factions and LC-MS/MC for moderate polar extracts.High amount of phenolic acid, flavonoids and tannin were identified in ethylacetate fraction compared to ethanol, dichloromethane and petroleum ether. The GC-MS analysis of petroleum ether extract of B. abyssinica stem back yielded twelve (12) compounds with varying composition. The most abundant compounds were 2-Butenoic acid, 3-methyl-, ethyl ester comprising 33.8%, n-Hexadecanoic acid comprising 16.7% and Ethanolpentamethyl- yielded in 16.7%.The LC-MS/MS analysis of Ethyl acetate fractions yielded 20 compounds including; Mangiferin and Isoquercitin were abundant in leaves, stembark and roots. Lastly, ethyl vanillate was identified in both roots and leaves whereas Quercitrin and 7,8-Dimethoxycoumarin were found in stembark and root.These findings indicated that B. abyssinica is rich in phenolic compounds ranging from phenolic acids, flavonoids and coumarin that possess high antioxidant and pharmacological properties potential for treatment of chronic diseases.