Abstract
Objective: Cynodon dactylon, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Elaeocarpus floribundus and Acorus calamus are anthelmintic medicinal plants of north-east India. Due to its pharmacological properties, the present study was aimed to investigate the phytochemical, antioxidant and heavy metal content of the plants.Methods: Preliminary phytochemical screening was carried out for the presence of phenolics, flavonoids, proteins, and carbohydrates following standard protocols. The antioxidant potential of plants was studied by phosphomolybdate, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. The heavy metal content was estimated using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Perkin Elmer 3110).Results: The result showed that the alcoholic extracts of the plant sample contain high quantity of proteins, carbohydrates, phenolics, and flavonoids. Antioxidant assays revealed appreciable free radical scavenging potential. The total antioxidant activity was highest in E. floribundus (62.48±1.53 µg/mg extract) while C. dactylon showed lowest (34.00±0.32 µg/mg extract). Similarly, DPPH and FRAP study also showed high in E. floribundus and lowest in H. rosa-sinensis and A. calamus. Elemental analysis of the plant extracts showed a high content of Mn in all the plants while Co was found to be lowest. The tested plants showed low levels of toxic elements.Conclusion: The high quantity of nutritional content and antioxidant property suggest that plants may be a good source of phytomedicine. Less quantity of toxic elements offers an opportunity to explore the medicinal application of the plants. However, further study needs to be carried out to know its mode of action.
Highlights
Used medicinal plants have been the source of health care system in rural India since ancient times including the northeastern (NE) region
Ascorbic acid; gallic acid; quercetin; aluminum chloride (AlCl3); ferric chloride (FeCl3); folin-Ciocalteu; bovine serum albumin (BSA); oxalic acid; 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH); thiobarbituric acid (TBA); trichloroacetic acid (TCA); 2,4,6-tripyridyl-s-triazine (TPTZ); sulphuric acid; hydrochloric acid; ammonium molybdate; potassium ferricyanide [K3Fe(CN)6]; chloroform and alcohols were purchased from Himedia and SRL (India)
The various biological properties can be ascribed to the presence of various phytochemicals such as phenolics, terpenoids or alkaloids, etc [27]
Summary
Used medicinal plants have been the source of health care system in rural India since ancient times including the northeastern (NE) region. In this part of India, several wild plants and herbs are found to be used as medicine against many health complications such as heart attack, cancer, diabetes, malaria, jaundice, wound healing, microbial infections, helmintic infections, inflammation, etc [1]. Antioxidant is an important property by which living organisms can neutralize the toxic and cell-damaging molecules called free radicals which are generated during various metabolic reactions of the body. Free radicals can generate either from normal cell metabolisms in situ or from external sources such as pollution, cigarette smoke, radiation, medication etc. Various antioxidant molecules or enzymes have the potential to exert their biological activity and scavenge ROS by quenching chain initiating catalysis, metal ion chelation, co-antioxidants, or by gene expression regulation [3, 4]
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