phenolics

Cancer, a disease characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of cells that have transformed from the normal cells of the body and is one of the major causes of death in developed and developing nations. Presently available treatment method, chemotherapeutic agents, suffers from drawback of toxicity such as bone marrow suppression, alopecia and vomiting. Its not within the reach of common man. Therefore challenging task is to identify quick and novel methods which can be of therapeutic value in human cancers. Plants have a long history and important role as a source of effective anti-cancer agents. Hence in the present study, one of the traditionally used plant, M.minuta was screened for cytotoxicity. Successive solvent extraction was carried out and the petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, alcoholic and aqueous extracts of M.minuta were prepared. Extracts were subjected to Brine shrimp lethality assay and it was observed that % mortality increased gradually with the increase in concentration of the test samples. Ethyl acetate and alcoholic extracts which showed better cytotoxicty were further screened for their cytotoxicity towards breast cancer cell lines using MTT cell viability assay. In the same, ethyl acetate extract was found to be significantly cytotoxic towards cell lines compared to that of alcoholic extract which may be due to higher amount of phenolic compounds present in them. The results obtained in this study further supported the traditional usage of the drug and the activity of drug can be attributed to major bioactive phytochemical class; poly phenolics, present in the drug.

Pulse crops, rich in flavonoids and polyphenolics possess not only free radical scavenging properties but also they are highly safe in the treatment of many diseases. Quantitative determination of phenols and flavonoids in seed coat, dehusked raw dal, dehusked cooked dal and whole seed of locally grown red lentil (Lens culinaris L.) was carried out using spectrophotometric methods. The amount of total phenols were analysed by using Folin-Ciocalteau assay and the amount of total flavonoids were analysed using aluminium chloride calorimetric assay. Gallic acid and catechin reagents were used as the standards For the calibration of phenols and flavonoids respectively. Hydrophillic and hydrophobic phenols were also estimated to confirm total phenolic composition. Orthodihydric phenols were analysed by Arnow’s method. Free radical scavenging efficiencies and antioxidant activities were analysed by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and ferric thiocyanate (FTC) assay respectively. Among the four treatments, seed coat extract showed highest scavenging activity followed by whole seed, dehusked raw dal and lowest found in dehusked cooked dal extracts in terms of their EC50 values. The results from analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and antioxidant properties varied among the different methanolic extracts significantly (p

Plant polyphenols are gaining increasing attention due to their potent antioxidant properties and marked effects in the prevention of various oxidative stress associated diseases. Identification and extraction of phenolic compounds from different plants has become a major area of health and medical research. In the present study, antioxidant activity of methanolic extracts of vegetative and reproductive parts of Moringa oleifera Lam. were tested for its free radical scavenging activity by spectrophotometric methods. Total phenolic and total flavonoid content were assayed spectrophotometrically. We observed high amount of total phenolic and flavonoid content in leaves and flowers of Moringa oleifera and this may be responsible for increased antioxidant activity in the plant. Antioxidant enzymes like ascorbate and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) were also found to be higher in vegetative and reproductive parts of Moringa oleifera. Our study reveals that M. oleifera leaves and flowers are potent source of natural antioxidants and the plant is valuable in pharmaceutical industry.

To evaluate phytochemical constituents and antioxidant potential of methanol aerial parts (leaf and stem) extract of Mentha arvensis L from Kashmiri Himalaya region. The extract shows the presence of flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, steroids, carbohydrates, proteins, tannins and phenolics. The antioxidant activity of methanol aerial extract of Mentha arvensis L was evaluated by using 1,1-diphenyl, 2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging and reducing power assays. The total phenolic and total flavonoid content (mg/g) was found to be 672.11 and 283.1 respectively. The percentage inhibition of DPPH scavenging was found to be 81.33% at concentration of 0.5mg/ml. The reducing power was found to be 0.76 at 0.1mg/ml and increased to 2.42 at 0.5mg/ml. The results obtained revealed that methanol extract from aerial parts of Mentha arvensis L can be promising candidates for natural sources of antioxidants with high activity.