Abstract
BackgroundThe pressed juice of Barley Grass (BG) has become very popular among people for various assumed benefits along with many testimonies of people who have been healed from various ailments such as anemia, cancer, GI problems by consuming BG. The aim of our research was to validate the claims of its medicinal values such as chemo-protective action, high anti-oxidants, RBC membrane stabilization activity, and toxicity level.MethodsExtracts of hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol were quantitatively estimated for total phenolic contents (TPC) and total flavonoid contents (TFC). The same extracts were assessed for their antioxidative potentials with the use of DPPH free radical scavenging assay followed by determination of HRBC membrane stabilization method, Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay (BSLA) and GC-MS analysis.ResultsAll the extracts showed high TPC and TFC along with the stronger correlation with the antioxidant activity of the extracts suggesting phenolics and flavonoids contents of the extract might be attributed to showing antioxidant activity. The methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of the plant also showed remarkable anti-inflammatory activity where methanolic extracts had the lowest EC50. During Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay, all extracts of BG were found to be bioactive and the degree of lethality was found to be concentration dependent. The GC-MS analysis of the methanolic extract of BG revealed 23 compounds which are reported to possess different biological activities.ConclusionThe study reveals the strong antioxidant and RBC membrane stabilization activity of BG. The Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay found extracts to be bioactive suggesting extracts as a promising candidate for plant-derived anti-tumor compounds. Further, studies are needed to validate the data on cancer cell lines.
Highlights
The pressed juice of Barley Grass (BG) has become very popular among people for various assumed benefits along with many testimonies of people who have been healed from various ailments such as anemia, cancer, GI problems by consuming BG
Total phenolic content determination The total phenolic content of three extracts determined by Folin-Ciocalteu reagent (FCR) method were expressed as Gallic Acid equivalents (GAE)/g dried extract (Fig. 1)
Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy analysis The Gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis of phytoconstituents in methanolic extract of barley grass revealed the presence of twenty-three major phytoconstituents (Fig. 5; Table 5)
Summary
The pressed juice of Barley Grass (BG) has become very popular among people for various assumed benefits along with many testimonies of people who have been healed from various ailments such as anemia, cancer, GI problems by consuming BG. Oxidative stress is the disturbance in the balance between the production of reactive oxygen species, ROS (free radicals) and antioxidant defenses [1]. ROS might be involved as initiators and mediators in several disease such as heart diseases, endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular disorders, inflammation, brain degenerative impairments, diabetes and eye disease [2]. Humans are in continuous exposure to free radicals produced from exposure of cigarette smoking, alcohol, radiation, or environmental toxins. Studies have reported that some of most commonly used synthetic antioxidants such as Tert-butyl hydroxy anisole (BHA), tert-butyl hydroxytoluene (BHT) are tumor promoters and can induce impairment in blood clotting [5], research has been directed towards plant derived natural antioxidants
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