Abstract
The aim of the present study was to compare the phytochemical and radical scavenging activities in the stem and leaf fractions of two species in Amaranthaceae family Amaranthus tristis and Alternanthera sessilis. Total flavonoids and phenolics were estimated using aluminium chloride and Folin-Ciocalteau methods, respectively; radical scavenging activities of the extracts were determined by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Our results showed that A. sessilis had higher levels of flavonoids (70.42 mg/100 g) and phenolics (103.75 mg/100 g), when compared with A. tristis that had relatively lower levels of flavonoids (62.87 mg/100 g) and phenolics (96.89 mg/100 g) in leaf fractions. The stem and leaf fractions of A. sessilis showed more DPPH and FRAP values indicating the higher radical scavenging activity of the extract, when compared to A. tristis. It was also found that the flavonoids and phenolics content are directly proportional to the radical scavenging activities of both vegetables. The results concluded that A. sessilis have relatively more phytochemicals and radical scavenging activities and it also reveals that the leaf fraction has more flavonoid and phenolic content than the stem fractions in both vegetables. It is clear that both plants have definitely more antioxidant properties making it an ideal dietary antioxidant supplement. Key words: Phytochemicals, antioxidants, total flavonoids, total phenolics, radical scavenging activity.
Highlights
The knowledge of herbal medicine comes from the traditional system of medicine, where the ethnic knowledge was verbally passed on from one generation to another without any proper documentation (Puspangadan and Atal, 1984)
Flavonoid content of the vegetable extracts were determined by aluminium chloride method, which is based on the reaction of AlCl3 with the C-3 Keto and C-3 or C-5 hydroxyl group of the flavones and formed the acid stable complex that showed the diphenyl-1picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (%)
The results showed that A. sessilis had more flavonoid content than A. tristis
Summary
The knowledge of herbal medicine comes from the traditional system of medicine, where the ethnic knowledge was verbally passed on from one generation to another without any proper documentation (Puspangadan and Atal, 1984). The people are destitute of traditional knowledge, which led to the slowdown of usage of the herbal medicine. India with its rich biodiversity, its major priority is to explore the bioactive compounds present in some of the neglected medicinal plants/vegetables. This will give the opportunity to develop novel drugs, as various recent drugs for the deadly disorders had come from the plants. The food and health are strongly interrelated, as rural people used the plants/plant extracts to cure various human disorders. Many plant species are been used as food as well as for medicinal purposes (Velu et al, 2012)
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