Research Article
Minky Mukhija, Ajudhia Nath
Abstract
In recent years much attention has been devoted to natural antioxidant and their association with health benefits. Plants are the potential source of natural antioxidants. The aim of this study was to assess the antioxidant activity (in vitro) of four extracts from stem bark of Zanthoxylum alatum Roxb. and to determine phenolic content of all extracts. The best antioxidant potential and phenolic content were found in Petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extract. Comparative antioxidant potential was evaluated using DPPH, Nitric Oxide scavenging assay and ferric reducing power assay. Estimation of the total phenolic content was performed using Folin-Ciocalteu’s method. Petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extract gave an IC50 of 85.16±1.05, 72.39±1.53 and 99.25±2.53, 94.81±2.56 for DPPH and Nitric oxide scavenging activities respectively. The petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts showed good reducing power with increasing concentration. Both extracts also gave the maximum percentage of phenolic content (equivalent to that of gallic acid) when compared to other extracts. All the antioxidant assays and phenolic content estimation studies revealed that petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts were the most promising and significant extract among petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts.