Actividad antioxidante y garrapaticida de los extractos de las hojas de Bixa orellana L.

Bixa orellana L. (Bixaceae) species has been used as ornaments and for therapeutic purposes. The colour known as “onoto” is extracted from the seeds and is widely used in culinary. The aim of this research was to study the chemical composition, antioxidant and tick control activity of the extracts obtained from leaves of this specie, collected in Tachira, Venezuela. Preliminary phytochemical studies showed the presence of sterols in hexanoic and dichloromethane extracts, while alkaloids, sterols and phenolic compounds were observed in the ethanolic extract. A total phenolic content of 0.89 µg AG/mg for Folin-Ciocalteu was observed in the ethanolic extract through spectrophotometry UV-visible at a wavelength of 760 nm. The antioxidant activity was determined using the DPPH method at 517 nm. the ethanolic extract was the most active since it showed an IC50 of 0.26 mg/mL, inhibition percentages (% I) was 87.1 at the concentration of 0.75 mg/mL, while dichloromethane extract showed an IC50 of 0.87 mg/mL and 31.0 % to the same concentration compared to 96.1% of the ascorbic acid, used as a positive control, at the concentration of 0.176 mg/mL. In addition, the tick control activity of the ethanolic extract was evaluated by the larval packet test method, showing that there was no activity against the R. microplus larvae. This is the first report of antioxidant and tick control activity from the extracts of the leaves of B. orellana L, collected in Venezuela.