Antioxidant Content of Selected Medicinal Plants Used by Kaani Tribes of Kanyakumari District in Tamilnadu India

Abstract

Objectives: Despite the great advances observed in modern medicine in recent decades, plants still make an important contribution to health care. The objectives of this study were to determine the moisture content and antioxidant capacity of the selected medicinal plants. Methods and Materials: The medicinal plants (20) were collected from Kanyakumari district of Tamilnadu. The moisture content of the medicinal plants was analyzed using Infra red moisture analyzer. For the analysis of antioxidants by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl assay) & FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power), phenol by Folin-ciocalteau method and flavonoids by aluminium chloride method the leaves was shade dried, powdered and stored in brown bottle containers. The aqueous and ethanol extracts of the medicinal plants were evaluated for their antioxidant capacity All recorded values of Moisture and Antioxidant analysis are mean of triplicates. Results and Discussion: The moisture content of the selected medicinal plants ranged from 36.00 to 89.86%. Blepharis Maderaspatens had highest DPPH activity in both aqueous (8.870) and ethanolic extracts (71.82) expressed in mg of GAE/g dry weight. The antioxidant activity AOA was 5.6 times higher in ethanolic extracts. The Mean DPPH activity of the selected medicinal plants was found to be 3.402±2.22 in aqueous extract and 19.114±17.01 in ethanolic extract. In FRAP, Blepharis Maderaspatens (633.76) had the highest AOA in ethanol extracts and Valarai (300.70) in water extracts expressed in μM of (Ascorbic Acid Equivalence Capacity) AAEC/g. The Mean FRAP value of the selected medicinal plants was found to be 145.44±129.53 in ethanolic extract and 117.96±79.17 in aqueous extracts. Blepharis Maderaspatens had the highest phenolic content in both aqueous (12.8) and ethanolic extracts (35.6). Conclusion: The study concluded that there was a wide difference in antioxidant content among the medicinal plants. The ethanolic extracts revealed the presence of high concentrations of AOA, Total Phenol Content (TPC), and Total Flavanoid Content (TFC) in the medicinal plants than water. Further investigation in quantification of individual antioxidant components in these medicinal plants possessing good free radical scavenging ability is needed.