In vitro antioxidant activity of methanolic and aqueous extract of Flacourtia indica Merr.

6 Abstract: The antioxidant activity of methanolic and aqueous extracts of Flacourtia indica leaves was evaluated by various in vitro antioxidant assays. IC values of methanolic and aqueous extracts were found 50 to be 18 µg/ml and 26 µg/ml for DPPH and 62 µg/ml 75 µg/ml for nitric oxide scavenging activity. The extracts showed potent antioxidant activity in all models when compared with ascorbic acid having IC values 8.2µg/ml 50 and 26 µg/ml for DPPH and nitric oxide scavenging activity respectively. Total antioxidant capacity of extract was found to be 260 µg/ml and 180 µg/ml ascorbic acid for methanolic and aqueous extracts respectively. The results indicate that both the extracts clearly have strong antioxidant effects. The freshly prepared extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening test for various constituents. This revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, glycosides, phenolic compounds, terpenoids and steroids. The antioxidant activity may be attributed to flavonoids and phenolics present in methanolic and aqueous extracts of Flacourtia indica. Total phenolic content for methanolic and aqueous extracts were found to be 1.5 mg/g and 1.1 mg/g and total flavonoid content for methanolic and aqueous extracts were found to be 0.140 mg/g and 0.029 mg/g. Thus it could be concluded that the methanolic and aqueous extracts of Flacourtia indica possess significant antioxidant property.