Variation in antioxidant activity at two ripening stages of wild mango, Spondias pinnata (L.f.) Kurz., an underutilized fruit

Bince Mani,Sinjumol Thomas

doi:10.14719/pst.2020.7.4.863

Abstract

Antioxidant compounds play a significant role in preventing and scavenging free-radicals by reducing oxidative stress and providing protection to humans against degenerative diseases and infections. Obviously, antioxidant molecules of plant origin are pivotal to combat the oxidative harm in cells. Present work intended to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of the fruits of Spondias pinnata. Methanol extracts of the fruits at two stages of maturity were prepared and investigated by various antioxidants analyses such as total antioxidant activity, reducing power and radical scavenging assays (DPPH, nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide). Its total phenol, flavonoid and tannin contents were also determined. Spondias pinnata fruit extracts exhibited effective antioxidant activity and its IC50 values of the unripe fruits were 65, 66, 72.23, 83.25, 66.75 ?g/ml and ripe fruits were 124.24, 92.50, 97.66, 144.10, 72.25 ?g/ml, for total antioxidant activity, reducing power, DPPH radical scavenging, nitric oxide radical scavenging and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assays respectively. The extracts, especially unripe fruit extract had good amounts of total phenolic and flavonoid contents which might contribute the antioxidant activities considerably. It is evident from the study that the fruits of S. pinnata possessed potent antioxidant activity and it can be considered as a good dietary choice among the underutilized fruits as well as common fruits. Therefore, wild mango may be a good choice of antioxidants of plant origin for dietary and pharmaceutical uses.

Highlights

Free-radicals are a collection of highly reactive molecules that impair the cellular functions by damaging nucleic acids, proteins and lipids [1, 2]
The total antioxidant potential of unripe fruits was found to be promising with increasing concentrations. The 50% (IC50) value of 65 μg/ml (Table 6), which is equal to that of standard ascorbic acid (63.25 μg/ml)
The results show that there was no significant variation in total antioxidant capacity at 50 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml concentrations of unripe fruit extract and ascorbic acid (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Free-radicals are a collection of highly reactive molecules that impair the cellular functions by damaging nucleic acids, proteins and lipids [1, 2]. Free radicals of cellular origin or from outside are one of the major agents for various diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and to even ageing [3]. Antioxidant molecules (natural and synthetic) are considered as possible means for hindering and treating such diseases. Studies on antioxidant activities of various fruits, vegetables, spices, medicinal plants and even microalgae have shown the presence of rich amounts of natural antioxidants in them [7,8,9], the search for plants containing powerful antioxidants remains to be a focus of investigators

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Conclusion