Screening of Costus speciosus and Determination of Antioxidant Potential Using DPPH Method: A Review

Medicinal plants are garnering widespread interest in scientific circles due to their consistent pharmacological activities, which make them beneficial in the treatment of a variety of ailments. Costus speciosus, commonly known as crepe ginger, is an herbaceous plant native to Mexico that belongs to the family Costaceae (zingiberaceae). Creep Ginger is known to have many medicinal effects, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and potential antidiabetic activities. The aim of this review was to investigate the phytochemical compounds and potential antioxidant activity in Costus speciosus. The following information on the phytoconstituents of the species Costus speciosus was acquired from online scientific databases using NCBI, Pubmed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Molecules, Elsevier, and Research Gate searches. Phytochemical analysis from several studies showed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, phenolic compounds, tannins, terpenoids, and saponins in the extract. The parts of Costus speciosus that are used as medicinal plants are usually the leaf, rhizome, and roots. The results suggest that the presence of a wide range of phytochemical compounds from extracts of Costus speciosus may be used to estimate potential antioxidant activity using the DPPH methods. Extracts with methanol as a solvent show that DPPH has considerable antiscavenging activity and the present study on alkaloids indicates that their contents are responsible for the high antioxidant activity. Antioxidant capacity is indicated by the values of EC50 and IC50. This review study may help future research activities on Costus speciosus by providing up-to-date information and relevant data.