Investigation on the biological activity of the leafy liverwort Denotarisia linguifolia (De Not.) Grolle

Denotarisia linguifolia (De Not.) Grolle, or D. linguifolia, collected from LangBiang was used to make fraction extracts used for the evaluation of biological activity. Four extracts (n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and ethanol) were assessed for antioxidant (ferric reducing power, DPPH and lipid peroxidation), enzymatic inhibition (tyrosinase, α-glucosidase and hyaluronidase), cytotoxicity against MCF-7 and phytochemistry screening. For antioxidant assays, ethyl acetate extract had the highest antioxidant capacity ferric reducing power and DPPH scavenging, while chloroform extract had the highest antioxidant capacity in lipid peroxidation. For enzyme inhibition evaluation, D. linguifolia ability in anti-tyrosinase was insignificant while its ability in anti-α-glucosidase and anti-hyaluronidase was exceptional, chloroform extract had the best ability against α-glucosidase and ethyl acetate extract had the best ability against hyaluronidase. Unexpectedly, the n-hexane extract had the best potential for preventing the proliferation of MCF-7. Finally, the phytochemistry screening revealed the presence of important secondary metabolites within the liverwort extracts such as phenolic compounds (phenols, quinones, coumarins and flavonoids) and glycosides (saponins and cardiac glycosides).