Common weed a potential antioxidant, say UP researchers

MANILA, Philippines – Slender carpet weed or locally known as Sarsalida or Malagoso, a common weed that grows at low and medium altitudes throughout the country has been found to have plenty of therapeutic value.

According to a study conducted by Dr. Juliana Janet R. Martin-Puzon and Dr. Windell L. Rivera of the Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman.

The plant, belonging to the family Molluginaceae, is a slender or ascending, smooth, branched, annual herb, with branches 10-40 centimeters long.

The study titled “Free-Radical Scavenging Activity and Bioactive Secondary Metabolites from Various Extracts of Glinus oppositifolius (L.) Aug. DC. (Molluginaceae) Roots, Stems and Leaves” which was published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease, a well-renowned academic communication platform for the rest of the world on tropical medicine and other related fields, reported that G. oppositifolius has therapeutic benefits in traditional medicine.

Among them include its analgesic, antidiabetic, anti-hyperlipidemic, antihelminthic, antidiarrhoeal, diuretic, antimalarial, antiviral, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.

The shoot of G. oppositifolius is eaten occasionally as a vegetable even though it is bitter on account of its stomachic, aperient, and antiseptic properties.

The whole plant, without the roots, is used as a cooked cataplasm in dyspepsia in children and as an infusion to promote the menstrual discharge in women. It is used as a blood purifier and liver stimulant.

It can also improve digestion and can cure burning sensation, itchiness and other skin ailments.

The experts from UP reported that the antioxidant activity of various solvent (ethanol, methanol, chloroform) extracts come from different parts of G. oppositifolius, including its roots, stems, and leaves.

The results of the antioxidant assay showed that all the plant extracts exhibited free-radical scavenging activity.

Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of bioactive metabolites namely alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, sterols, tannins, and terpenes in ethanol, methanol and chloroform extracts from the roots, stems, and leaves of Glinus oppositifolius.

The findings demonstrated the great potential of this weed as a new source of food supplements, drug components and other materials or ingredients for health and wellness.

The study, according to Drs. Martin-Puzon and Rivera, is the first report on the antioxidant activity and phytochemical constituents of crude extracts from different segregated parts of G. oppositifolius, i.e., roots, stems and leaves obtained using ethanol, methanol and chloroform as solvents.

These findings were parts of a postdoctoral research titled, “Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Properties of Glinus oppositifolius (L.) Aug. DC. (synonym: Mollugo oppositifolia L.), a Promising Source of Bioactive Metabolites,” with Dr. Rivera as the program manager and host scientist.

This research was funded under the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Grant for Basic Research in Agriculture and Fisheries of the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) and was hosted by the Natural Sciences Research Institute, UP Diliman.

Antioxidants are compounds which have the ability to scavenge or trap free radicals. Studies on finding antioxidant phytochemicals are significant because they can inhibit the propagation of free-radical reactions and protect the human body from metabolic diseases due to oxidative stress such as DNA damage, carcinogenesis, and degenerative disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, aging and neuro-degenerative diseases, atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Many studies revealed a vast number of plants with antioxidant capabilities.  However, the antioxidant potential of the different parts of Glinus oppositifolius plant remained unexploited.

Plants are rich sources of bioactive substances, such as alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, sterols, tannins, terpenes, and other metabolites with antioxidant activity.

Various reports have shown that many of these phytochemical compounds possess antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiprotozoal, antihelminthic, antidiarrhoeal, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, antiartherosclerotic and antidiabetic activities.