A comparative study of antioxidant potential of commonly used antidiabetic plants in Bangladesh

Abstract

Various literatures recorded approximately 60 medicinal plants in Bangladesh that have antidiabetic properties. Of these medicinal plants, only 14–16 are found in traditional herbal markets and they are being randomly used to treat diabetes. Since diabetes mellitus increases reactive free radicals along with various complications in the body, antidiabetic plants that can potentially neutralize free radicals, may be of central interest to manage the disease. Present study compares functional bioactive components such as total phenolics, flavonoids, anthocyanins contents and antioxidant potential of methanol extracts of antidiabetic medicinal plants that are common in traditional herbal markets. Among the 14 extracts, Syzygium cumini was very rich in total polyphenol content (294 mg gallic acid equivalent, GAE/g) followed by Swertia chirata (183 mg GAE/g) and Ficus racemosa (bark) (154 mg GAE/g). These three extracts also had elevated amount of flavonoids and anthocyanins. S. cumini showed very high DPPH and NO free radical scavenging activities with IC50 of 6.25 and 48.61 μg/mL respectively followed by S. chirata and F. racemosa (bark). S. cumini also showed very high reducing power and total antioxidant capacity followed by S. chirata and F. racemosa (bark). In addition, the study revealed strong correlation between phenolics and reducing power (r = 0.94). Hence, among the 14 extracts, S. cumini, S. chirata and F. racemosa (bark) are potential sources of antioxidant agents. Therefore, these three medicinal plants have diverse beneficial effects on physiological health and they might be the choice of plants to treat diabetes.