A comparative Analysis of Antioxidant capacity of aqueous and methanolic leaf extracts of Scoparia dulcis and Schleichera oleosa

Abstract

In this study a comparative analysis of total anti-oxidant capacity of aqueous and methanolic leaf extracts of Scoparia dulcis and Schleichera oleosa was done by estimation of DPPH radical, hydroxyl radical, superoxide anion radical and nitric oxide radical scavenging activity. The methanolic extract (M.E) of S.oleosa showed a maximum concentration of total phenolics and flavanoids up to 20% and 168.89 % and aqueous extract (A.E) showed a maximum concentration of total phenolics and flavanoids up to 4.90% and 9.33% respectively. The M.E of S.dulcis showed a maximum concentration of total phenolics and flavanoids up to 6.21% and 9.24 % and A.E 46.22% and 14.67% respectively. Free radical scavenging activity was observed in both the M.E and A.E. For S.dulcis the % of free radical activity in M.E and A.E in 100µg concentration was 2.98% and 15.53% respectively. M.E and A.E of S.oleosa showed 54.94% and 5.93 % free radical scavenging activity correspondingly. Hydroxyl scavenging activity for 100µg of S.dulcis extracts were 17.92% in M.E and 11.39% in A.E where as for S.oleosa extracts it was 35.83% and 8.19% in M.E and A.E respectively. S.dulcis showed only 4.03% and 3.23% scavenging of superoxide anion radical and S.oleosa showed superoxide anion scavenging up to 22.58% in M.E and 3.23% in A.E. Nitric oxide scavenging activity was 5.71% in M.E of S.dulcis and 5.24% for A.E where as S. oleosa showed 33.81% nitric oxide scavenging activity in M.E and 31.43 % in A.E. The presence of phenol, flavonoid and total antioxidant in both the extract justifies the antioxidant potential of the plants which brings about their free radicals scavenging potential. Thus we conclude that the antioxidant activities may be due to the cumulative effect of the phytochemicals present in the plant which genuinely designate them as free radical scavengers.