Radical scavenging and neurotoxicity of four varieties of Ficus deltoidea

Ficus deltoidea or locally known as ‘Mas Cotek’ is a very common herb found throughout the tropics is available in many varieties. In Malaysia, traditional practitioners use this plant in herbal remedies to treat several illnesses like headache, hypertension, and hyperglycemia which may be related to antioxidant properties of the plant. The first objective of the study was to evaluate antioxidant properties of aqueous extracts of four varieties of Ficus deltoidea namely var angustifolia, deltoidea, intermedia, and kunstleri in order to identify which variety possess the highest antioxidant potential. In this study, the antioxidant of aqueous extract of the leaves and fruits of the four varieties of Ficus deltoidea were evaluated by their DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity. In addition, total phenolic content (TPC) of the aqueous extracts were also determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The TPC value of var intermedia was very good both for the leaves and fruits (86.52 and 96.58 mg GAE/100 g extract respectively) compared to other varieties. In the DPPH assay, var deltoidea showed the highest radical scavenging activity both for the leaves and fruits (82.04% and 71.43% respectively) compared to other varieties. The second objective was to study the neurotoxicity. In this study, neuroblastoma cell line, SH-SY5Y was used to determine the neurotoxicity of aqueous extracts of four varieties of Ficus deltoidea. Cell viability was assessed using MTS assay. Results showed that the aqueous extracts of four varieties of Ficus deltoidea were not toxic within the tested concentration range from 1 ng/ml to 1 mg/ml. The study also showed that the aqueous extracts could protect neuron cells and suggested that the varieties possess potential neuroprotective effects.