STUDY OF THE ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF SOLVENT EXTRACTS OF RHIZOMES OF BERGENIA STRACHEYI

Reena Purohit, Sandeep Kumar* and Abhishek Mathur

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants are gaining global attention owing to the fact that the herbal drugs are cost effective, easily available and with negligible side effects. The beneficial effects of the medicinal plants in health care can be well judged from the WHO estimate that around 80% of the world population uses them in some form or the other. It is important to note that homeopathy and modern medicine have their roots in medicinal plants. The compounds derived from medicinal plants form the ingredients of analgesics, antibiotics, heart drugs, laxatives, anti-cancer agents, ulcer treatments, contraceptives, diuretics etc. Compounds from plants are referred as plant secondary metabolites, phytochemicals, anti-nutritional factors, plant xenobiotics etc. In the present investigation, in vitro antioxidant activity of solvent extracts of Bergenia stracheyi was determined by total phenolic content, DPPH radical scavenging method, superoxide anion radical scavenging assay and total antioxidant activity. The results confirmed that, polar extracts possessed higher antioxidant activity followed by non polar extracts. It was found that, TPC in ethyl acetate, aqueous and methanol were found to be 246, 235 and 232μg/g gallic acid equivalents followed by petroleum ether and hexane extracts viz. 187 and 134μg/ml. IC50 values of ethyl acetate, aqueous and methanol extracts were found to be 22.5, 25.56 and 35.23μg/ml followed by 52.57 and 85.56μg/ml of petroleum ether and hexane extracts respectively. With reference to superoxide anion radical scavenging method polar extracts showed 78-82% inhibition of superoxide followed by non polar extracts having 54-63% inhibition. Total antioxidant activity also followed the same order. Ascorbic acid was used as the standard antioxidant having IC50 value 55.45μg/ml in DPPH radical scavenging method and 87.80% inhibition of superoxide. Different conventional methods were followed to determine qualitatively the presence of phytochemical constituents present in the solvent extracts. The ethyl acetate extracts possessed tannin, steroids, saponin and glycosides, alkaloids and flavanoids while aqueous and methanol extracts showed the absence of saponin and glycosides. Petroleum ether extracts possessed only steroids and saponin while hexane extracts showed the presence of saponin only.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity, solvent extracts, Bergenia stracheyi, phytochemical screening.