EVALUATION OF INVITRO FREE RADICAL SCAVENGING POTENTIAL OF VARIOUS EXTRACTS OF WHOLE PLANT OF Mucuna pruriens (Linn)

Summary The antioxidant activity of various extracts of whole plant of Mucuna pruriens (Linn) was investigated in various in-vitro methods. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by Total antioxidant activity (Phosphomolybdic acid method), FRAP assay with reference standard Ascorbate and total flavonoids content respectively. The methanolic extract of Mucuna pruriens was found to more effective in the total antioxidant activity. The IC50 values of the methanolic extract of Mucuna pruriens and ascorbate were found to be 100µg/ml and 410µg/ml respectively. The methanolic extract of Mucuna pruriens was found more effective in FRAP assay than that of petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts. But when compare to the all the three extracts with ascorbate (standard), the methanolic extract of the Mucuna pruriens showed the better result. The methanolic extract of Mucuna pruriens contains high amount of flavonoids than that of other two extracts. Moreover, the results were observed in a concentration dependent manner. All the above in vitro studies clearly indicate that the methanolic extract of Mucuna pruriens has a better antioxidant activity. These in vitro assays indicate that this plant extracts is a better source of natural antioxidant, which might be helpful in preventing the progress of various oxidative stresses.