Antioxidant Activities Of Common Medicinal Plants Case Study

ABSTRACT:
Medicinal plants are potential sources of new drugs to improve the treatment of diseases whose treatment is associated to anti-oxidative agents. In the current study, we carried out a comparative analysis of the antioxidant activities of extracts of the selected leaves of 6 common medicinal plants. Total Ascorbic Acid Content, Total Carotenoid Content, Antioxidant potential using FRAP assay and Total Phenol Content was quantitatively estimated from leaves of Rauvolfia serpentina, Cymbopogon citrates, Hibiscus rosa sinensis, Zingiber officinale, Calotropis procera and Spinacia oleracea. It was found in this study that the highest total ascorbic acid content was present in Cymbopogon citratus whereas Calotropis procera showed the least content of total ascorbic acid present. On the other hand total carotenoid content of Cymbopogon citratus was the highest and that of Hibiscus rosa sinensis was the lowest. Hibiscus rosa sinensis exhibited highest FRAP value, which was subsequently found to be least in Cymbopogon citrates. Spinacia oleracea was found to have highest total phenol content and the least was present in Hibiscus rosa sinensis.

Keywords: Antioxidants, Ascorbic Acid, Carotenoid, FRAP, Phenol.
1.
The antioxidant photochemical from plants, particularly flavonoids and other polyphenols has been reported to inhibit the propagation of free radical reactions, to protect the human body from disease (Kinsella et al., 1993). Antioxidants are used in the food industry to increase the shelf life of the foods. Antioxidants scavenge radicals by inhibiting initiation and breaking of chain reaction, suppressing formation of free radicals by binding to the metal ions, reducing hydrogen peroxide and quenching superoxide and singlet oxygen (Shi et al., 2001). It is well known that herbs and spices possess anti-oxidant activity (Schwarz et al., 2001; Tanabe et al.,