Assessment of antioxidant activity, total phenolic content of some medicinal plants used by the tribes in Wayanad, kerala

T. B. Shyma , A. G. Deviprasad

Abstract

The tribal medicines play vital role in curing human diseases in Wayanad district Kerala. In our continuous effort 500 plants are already been reported. The objective of the present study is to examine the antioxidant activity of methanolic and aqueous extracts of leaves of Embelia tsjeriam-cottam(Roem.&Schult.)DC., Gomphostemma heyneanum Benth.var. heyneanum, Hackeria subpeltata (Willd.)Kunth and Nothapodytes nimmoniana (Graham)Mabb. which are extensively used by the tribes for curing cancer, arthritis, piles, dysentery, diarrhoea and skin problems. The DPPH radical scavenging activity, phosphomelybdenum assay and Fe (3) to Fe (2) reducing activity were employed in the present study to determine the antioxidant activity of these plants. The DPPH radical scavenging activity for the methanolic leaf extract of, Hackeria subpeltata (Willd.)Kunth is significant when compared to the commonly used BHA followed by 99.24 % at 517nm (Methanolic extract of Gomphostemma heyneanum Benth.var. heyneanum), 93.90 % at 517nm (Methanolic extract of Embelia tsjeriamcottam( Roem.&Schult.)DC. The maximum value for phenol estimation, reducing power and antioxidant capacity by phosphomolybdenum were shown by the methanolic leaf extract of Hackeria subpeltata (Willd.) which forms a good basis to propose the plant material for further phytochemical and pharmacological analysis.