PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY OF SOME SELECTED MEDICINAL PLANTS OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

The leaves of twelve medicinal plants, namely Andrographis paniculata, Blumea lacera, Caesalpinia bonduc, Codariocalyx motorius, Hyptis suaveolens, Vitex trifolia, Centella asiatica, Cynodon dactylon, Portulaca oleracea, Hyptis capitata, Acmella paniculata and Lippia alba were selected to investigate the presence and status of different phytochemicals along with their antioxidant activity. All of these medicinal plants contained high amounts of different phytochemicals. The phenolic content ranged from 118.98 to 288.62 mg GAE/100g FW, flavonoids from 95.19 to 198.51 mg QE/100g FW, FRAP values from 0.4523 to 3.4390 µmol Fe2+/g FW, IC50 values for scavenging DPPH radicals from 3.376 to 38.56 mg/ml, vitamin C from 10.418 to 41.763 mg/100g FW, total chlorophyll from 0.7818 to 4.2185 mg/100g FW, and carotenoids from 0.4614 to 1.8557 µg/g FW. Among these, H. suaveolens and H. capitata showed the best performances regarding most of the parameters. Based on the results of the present investigation, it may be concluded that these medicinal plants possess excellent amounts of different phytochemicals and are a good source of antioxidants, indicating their potential in ethnomedicinal studies and therapeutic uses.