EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF ACORUS CALAMUS LINN. AND VITEX NEGUNDO L

Smrity Prabha*, Jyoti Kumar and U. C. Bapat

ABSTRACT

This study reports total phenolics and flavonoid content and antioxidant activities of ethanolic extracts of Acorus calamus Linn. rhizome and Vitex. negundo L. leaves. The DPPH radical scavenging activity was carried out as per the method adopted by Brand-Williams, et. al.(1995). Total anti-oxidant capacity was determined using phosphomolybdenum reagent described by Prieto, et. al. (1999) and reducing power assay was undertaken using method proposed by Oyaizu, et. al.(1986). Total flavonoid and phenolic contents were determined by the standard methods as proposed by Zhishen, et. al. (1999) and Eberhardt et. al. (2000). The results obtained showed that there is a +ve correlation of anti-oxidant capacities of these plants with their phenolic and flavonoid contents. The IC50 value of V. negundo leaves indicated higher antioxidant potential as compared to A. calamus rhizome, whereas A. calamus showed higher reducing power and total antioxidant activities.

Keywords: Antioxidant Activity, Acorus calamus, Vitex negundo, phenols, flavonoids, DPPH.