Screening of antioxidant activity of lichens Parmotrema reticulatum and Usnea sp. from Darjeeling hills, India

Abstract

Abstract--Till date many plants have been screened for their antioxidant activity. Oxidative stress can lead to the production of free radicals which may cause many degenerative diseases. These free radicals can be eliminated with the help of antioxidants which may be of a natural origin. The aim of this study was to examine the antioxidant activity of two common lichens namely Parmotrema reticulatum and Usnea sp from Darjeeling hills. The antioxidant assay of different concentration of ethanolic and methanolic extracts of lichens was determined with respect to five parameters i. e., DPPH radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity, reducing power ability, flavonoid and phenolic content. The DPPH radical scavenging ranged from 10% to 31.5% for methanol extracts of Parmotrema reticulatum and Usnea sp respectively and for reducing power measured values of absorbance varied from 0.376 to 0.514. In addition, total phenolic content of the extracts were high and total flavonoids content was moderate. Tested lichen species were found to possess considerable antioxidant activities and could be evaluated as good natural sources of antioxidants.

Radical Scavenging, Antimicrobial and Insecticidal Efficacy of <i>Parmotrema cristiferum</i> and <i>Dirinaria applanata</i>

“…The scavenging effect of lichen extracts was weaker when compared to reference standard. Similar results were observed in the study of Sharma and Kalikoty (2012) and Vivek et al (2014a) where extracts of Parmotrema species displayed low scavenging potential when compared to ascorbic acid. Although the scavenging effect of lichen extracts of this study was lesser than that of reference standard, it is evident that the extracts exhibit hydrogen donating ability and could serve as free radical scavengers, acting possibly as primary antioxidants (Chung et al, 2006).…”

“…The scavenging of DPPH free radicals is used to assess radical scavenging potential of various kinds of substances including lichen extracts. This assay is advantageous as it is simple, rapid, sensitive and requires only small amount of sample (Chung et al, 2006;Kaviarasan et al, 2007;Kekuda et al, 2011;Sharma and Kalikoty, 2012;Kekuda et al, 2013;Vivek et al, 2014a). In the present study, we evaluated radical scavenging effect of extract of P. cristiferum and D. applanata by DPPH assay.…”

An Antioxidant Extract of Tropical Lichen,Parmotrema reticulatum, Induces Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis in Breast Carcinoma Cell Line MCF-7

“…Parmotrema reticulatum occur in abundance in Dima Hasao Hills district of Assam, North-East, India. This species has been preliminary screened for its antioxidant [28] and antibacterial [29] activities. Even though these manifold activities of the lichen have now been recognized, their therapeutic potential remains unexploited.…”

Effect of UV‐B radiation on the content of UV‐B absorbing compounds and photosynthetic parameters in Parmotrema austrosinense from two contrasting habitats

“…Within the last decades, research has focused on various ecological and biological aspects of the Parmotrema genus, addressing species tolerance to air pollution (Estrabou et al . ), oxidative stress in the lichen photobiont (Caviglia & Modenesi ; Sharma & Kalikotay ) and intrathalline content of secondary metabolites with antioxidative (Ghate et al . ) and antibacterial (Jain & Jain ) activity.…”