Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Capacities from Dacryodes rostrata Fruits

Nowadays, people are gaining interest on natural products due to the health conscious and awareness of the side effect caused by synthetic products. Malaysia is one of the top biodiversity, which host rich diversity of indigenous fruit, which could be a potential source of nutraceutical, antioxidant and pharmaceuticals. Dacryodes rostrata is an indigenous fruit found in Sarawak, Malaysia and is reported to be rich in oil, protein, minerals and could be a potential source of natural antioxidants. Thus, in this work, antioxidant components and antioxidant capacities of the extracts of peel, pulp and seeds of D. rostrata were evaluated. Total phenolic (1008 ? 24 mg/g GAE DW) and flavonoid contents (2551 ? 37 mg/g QE DW) of the seed extracts were higher when compared to peel and the pulp extracts. In addition, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity of the seed extracts were higher (63 ), compared to peel (25 ) and pulp (18 ). Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) values of the seeds (1.25mM FeSO4 equivalent) exhibited highest activity when, compared with peel (0.29 mM FeSO4 equivalent) and pulp (0.90mM FeSO4 equivalent). Seed extract also showed highest total antioxidant capacity determined by phosphomolybdenum method. Liquid chromatography-mass spectra (LC-MS) of the seed extracts from D. rostrata revealed the presence of phytochemicals in the form of gallic acid, ellagic acid, catechin, epicatechin and apigenin. Thus, D.rostrata seed extracts is having potent antioxidant capacity and could be used as a natural source of antioxidants.