TOTAL PHENOLS CONTENT OF ANTIHIPERTENSIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY THE VILLAGERS OF A JAVANESE COMMUNITY IN PONOROGO EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

ndonesia has high biodiversity, and some of them has been used for traditional medicine. The villagers
of Javanese community in Ponorogo East Java use several plants for hypertension therapy, such as bayam duri
(Amaranthus spinosus), temu hitam (Curcuma aeruginosa), kumis kucing (Orthosiphon aristatus), cincau hitam
(Mesona chinensis), and semangka (Citrullus lanatus). However, the mechanism of the plants as anti�hypertension is still limited. The pathophysiology of hypertension can be stimulated by oxidative stress that can
lead damage to various tissues and implicate in cardiovascular disease. Phenols have a great impact as
antioxidants in protecting the cardiovascular system. This research aims to examine the total phenols of extract
of bayam duri (Amaranthus spinosus), temu hitam (Curcuma aeruginosa), kumis kucing (Orthosiphon
aristatus), cincau hitam (Mesona chinensis), dan semangka (Citrullus lanatus). The fruits were dried and
extracted using methanol absolut, then dried with rotary evaporator. The content of total phenols of extracts were
analyzed by using a spectrophotometric method in neutral aqueous solutions react with diazotized sulfanilic acid.
The total phenols on bayam duri (Amaranthus spinosus), temu hitam (Curcuma aeruginosa), kumis kucing
(Orthosiphon aristatus), cincau hitam (Mesona chinensis), and semangka (Citrullus lanatus) were 363.27 ± 1.44,
335.71 ± 1.44, 599.49 ± 3.61, 409.69 ± 2.16; and 441.33 ± 3.61 respectively.This study suggested that the five
plants contain phenols and kumis kucing (Orthosiphon aristatus) contents the highest of total phenols.