scavenging activity

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.