Antiglycation and
Antioxidant Activities and HPTLC Analysis of
Boswellia sacra Oleogum Resin: The Sacred
Frankincense
Ahmed Al-Harrasi1*,
Liaqat Ali1, Eliezer Ceniviva2,
Ahmed Al-Rawahi1, Javid Hussain1,
Hidayat Hussain1, Najeeb ur Rehman1,
Ghulam Abbas1,3 and Rashid Al-Harrasi1
1Department of Biological
Sciences and Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences,
University of Nizwa, Birkat Al-Mauz, Nizwa 616,
Sultanate of Oman, 2
CAMAG Laboratory,
Sonnenmattstrasse. 11, 4132 Muttenz, Switzerland,
3COMSATS Institute of
Information Technology, Abbotabad Campus,
Abbotabad-22060, Pakistan.
*For
correspondence:
Email:
aharrasi@unizwa.edu.om Tel: +968-92828487; Fax:
+968-25446289.
Received: 17 July 2012
Revised accepted: 4 June
2013
Tropical Journal of
Pharmaceutical Research, August 2013; 12(4): 597-602
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v12i4.23
Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate antiglycation and
antioxidant activities as undertake HPTLC analysis of
Boswellia sacra resin.
Methods: Sub-fractionation of the crude
methanol extract of Hougari regular (HR) grade resin of
Boswellia sacra was carried out by vacuum liquid
chromatography. Free radical scavenging and anti-glycation
activities of sub-fractions were characterized in order
to assess their anti-aging properties. Furthermore, high
performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) analysis
of Boswellia sacra resins was also carried out.
Results: Polar fractions of the extract
obtained exhibited the highest antiglycation activity
while non-polar fractions showed more than 50 %
inhibition in superoxide anion scavenging assay.
Scavenging activity of reactive oxygen species results
indicate that non-polar sub-fractions showed > 50 %
inhibition, except Shabi frankincense (SF) oil which
showed 33 % inhibition. Dichloromethane (CH2Cl2)
fraction, 40 % dichloromethane (CH2Cl2)/n-hexane
sub-fraction, and SF oil showed moderate activity in
di(phenyl)-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)iminoazanium (DPPH)
assay. Furthermore, HPTLC analysis indicates the
presence of 11-keto-β-boswellic acid (KBA) and
3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA) along with
some other terpenoids.
Conclusion: Various sub-fractions of Boswellia
sacra exert effective antiglycation and antioxidant
activities. The extracts should be studied further for
possible formulation into pharmaceutical products.
Keywords:
Frankincense, Boswellia sacra, Terpenoids, HPTLC,
Antioxidant, Antiglycation
