Antioxidant activities of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Asparagus racemosus roots

Abstract

Background: Asparagus racemosus (AR) is commonly known as shatavari, satawar or satmuli in India and in Thailand it is call sam-sib or rak-sam-sib. The dried root of AR is used in Ayurveda as an antiulcerous and antiinflammatory and has medicinal/pharmacological value. Objective: To investigate the antioxidant activities of Asparagus racemosus root extracts via total phenolic and total flavonoid contents of ethanolic and aqueous extracts. Methods: Antioxidant capacity measurements were carried out by DPPH, ABTS and FRAP methods. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method and the aluminum chloride colorimetric method, respectively. Results: The ethanolic extract possessed higher antioxidant capacities than the aqueous extract in the three antioxidant assays (p0.05).These results have shown high phenolic and flavonoid contents. The ethanolic extract of AR root possessed higher amounts of phenolic and flavonoid contents than the aqueous extract. Conclusion: The antioxidant capacity of the ethanolic extract was higher than that in the aqueous extract.